


A Melon For Your Thoughts

by raziel01



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Armitage Hux Lives, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Reyux, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:54:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 49,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26383702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raziel01/pseuds/raziel01
Summary: Post TRoS. Rey seeks to make a life and find purpose in the aftermath. Hux may or may not end up on for the ride.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rey
Comments: 54
Kudos: 121





	1. Chapter 1

Rey fell out of meditation in a manner that lacked her usual grace. She often drifted upward languidly through the layers of self, memory, and awareness like an air pocket through the Gel Lakes of Kashyyyk. Today, there was no such serenity to be had as the faint echo of drums put an end to her consideration of a final attempt at her morning meditation. 

It had taken some time, nearly a year in fact, for Rey to settle on a residence following the war. Her friends insisted she stay with them on Coruscant while they erected the Galactic Commonwealth. In cliche fashion they had chosen the affluent planet as the new seat of government. Her suggestion to establish the capitol closer to the rim for inclusivity had fallen on unintentionally deaf ears. After months of participating from the periphery out of perceived obligation more so than an actual desire to build a new government, she packed her ship with a few weeks of supplies, bid a solemn but kind goodbye to her closest comrades and put as much distance between herself and the sparkling planet as she dared. 

It wasn't them, it was her.

She knew this. Her time saying goodbye to the Skywalkers on Tatooine had given her closure but not purpose. And she was grateful for the conclusion of the war, but now she felt more alone than ever before. Even Ben was gone after finding his way back for mere moments. She forced the dull lingering ache of his memory down with an iron fist. Today was not going to be the day she resolved those feelings. 

She climbed down from the crow's nest of her dwelling, a two story abandoned house on the edge of town. She had chosen a lush planet, Dagomir 3. No more sand. She was through with sand and water shortages. This planet was close to the rim, but well inhabited with intelligent species. There was some wealth from their textile trade but plenty of working class farmers and skilled laborers. They also celebrated plenty of holidays, and today's involved a lot of music and sporting activities. Her reclusive life on Jakku and stealth in the resistance ranks did not groom her for the life of a socialite or 'people person'. It was easy, too easy, to follow Luke's example and retreat from the civilized humdrum of society. But of the few things Rey was now certain, one was that she did not wish to end up like Luke - alone and bitter. 

The meadow before her was a moving sea of Dagorians milling about in elaborate regalia. There were vendors set up around the perimeter and either athletes or warriors taking some sort of formation at the center of it all. She eyed a fruit vendor and purchased a kabob of sorts with bright yellow and red alternating cubes of sun-ripened goodness.

Rey absolutely loved fruit.

It didn't really exist on Jakku. What little plant life persisted there was dry, spiky, or bitter or some combination thereof. She had been lucky enough to try some while hiding out on D'Qar. It was heaven. The sugar and juices seemed absurdly indulgent for something growing on its own in nature, but there it was.

She chose a grassy dune away from the crowds but with a view of the center pitch. Many children clustered together near their families, their green plaits swinging behind them. Things had been quiet on the jungle planet for some time now, but it wasn't always so. Shortly after her arrival, their local HoloNet was awash with child abductions. She had immediately taken an interest. Anything to find direction in a suddenly war-free galaxy. As it were, the most recently abducted children were still on-planet and took Rey two days to find out where they were being held. She freed them and managed to preserve her anonymity in the process. But eventually there were others and the reward credits were hard to ignore with her limited resources. She accepted some of the funds on two occasions and felt uneasy about profiting from kidnapping. And why were there so many? Was this typical for the planet? 

Her search for some background to the problem had so far revealed it had been an infrequent occurrence until the end of the war. Being so far away from the core worlds, Dagomir 3 had a small but consistent First Order presence for the high taxes they paid. She suspected the disbanding of the Storm Trooper program in its previous iteration left some sort of crime vacuum. But why children was still puzzling to her. 

She kept feeling her attention drawn to a tent at the far side of the pitch. She couldn't make out much detail from this distance but there was something different about it...a feeling. Whatever sport they had been setting up for had commenced and almost everyone had their attention on the pitch. There was some activity at the tent… some figures had gone in and not come out. There was someone standing stiffly out front facing the crowds. Rey had enough experience with the Force to know she was being encouraged to investigate. She made her way closer and ducked behind the tent line into the jungle that neighbored the meadow. From here she could hear two voices, the gravelly baritone of a Dagorian and a quiet tenor... possibly human. They were speaking the most common dialect of Darog, of which she could now get by in. It sounded like a negotiation of some price..no, a quantity of goods. This wouldn't be unusual for a vendor at a festival. 

Rey stayed put. She had been drawn here and she would find out why. She trusted her intuition and she trusted in the Force. When she and the galaxy had needed it most, it had not failed her. She paced her breathing and began to reach out with her senses. Carefully, so as not to disturb the subjects of her inquiry. She had been correct - a Dagorian male, not quite an elder, shadowed in ill intent and a human who was oddly familiar. She concentrated harder, perhaps more than she should have. She was intent on identifying the human, and the answer taking shape in her mind confused her. His name softly left her lips in a short puff of surprised breath just as the door flap was abruptly thrown open.

His face was ruddy from the hot and hazy jungle climate. He was far thinner than she remembered and having pulled back his hood, absent the head full of pomade. There was no mistaking a very much alive Armitage Hux. 

Poe and Finn had explained that he had turned spy for the rebellion at the end and helped them break free, but his death had been confirmed in the First Order vital database. How could he have faked a traitor's execution? 

Rey did not have time to ponder this as Hux scanned the crowd feverishly. Having long since traded her desert whites for jungle greens, she had the cover of the thick vegetation behind the tent line. But he was nothing if not thorough, just as she recalled. He searched the entire perimeter, his gaze skimming over her location before the hood was pulled back in place. He began putting distance between himself and the tent line all together, heading in the direction of the grassy hill Rey had deserted. The Dagorian he had been negotiating with exited the tent but did not follow, instead he leaned in to make a quiet comment to the one guarding the entrance.

She had to follow him. 

Rey quietly doubled back, able to keep Hux in her vision only because his black and brown clothing contrasted considerably with the rainbow of festive clothing around them. He was headed for the jungle road that eventually led to town. She went to outpace him from the perimeter...traversing the log and vine-littered ground until she reached the road. It was deserted as most of the area’s inhabitants were involved in the holiday festivities at the meadow. From her crouched position in the tree line she observed his hasty approach filled with quick glances behind in an effort to locate his pursuer. She stepped into the road without her saber drawn.

"Hux," she announced in what she hoped was her calmest tone. His blaster was already being discharged before he fully laid eyes on her. She froze the pulse of light in place having expected some offensive reaction. With some effort she deflected it to a nearby tree. "Hux, stop. I would like to talk."

"How did you find me?" He demanded, maintaining his blaster on her position.

"The Force. Well, by accident really. But I sensed you at the festival. How are you alive? The records all say you were executed for helping us," she implored, unable to to hold back her questions. She took a slow step towards him and he matched her in reverse, eyeing both borders of trees lining the roadway.

"I didn't die. It was a shitty execution carried out by an incompetent commander, scavenger." Truth be told, he had counted on their hubris. The moment he had made up his mind to start helping the resistance he started wearing blaster-resistant plating beneath his uniform and it paid off. 

"It has been a year, Hux. Have you just been in hiding? Why not seek out the Resistance?" She took another step and he took another back.

"Seek them out for what? To be welcomed with open arms of gratitude?" His tone was laden with bitterness. "I am not so naive, scavenger. I'd rather not get swept up into their pompous show of war trials, or have you not been following the news?"

He was not wrong, what First Order officials had survived the final battle were being tried for any number of war crimes in the birth of the Galactic Commonwealth. She had not made an effort to follow the proceedings but they were being held on Coruscant indefinitely.

"Poe and the others can speak on your behalf," she offered. Up close she confirmed his gaunt appearance. He had lost some weight, not that he had been well padded to begin with. His grooming had not suffered, still clean shaven and trimmed but there was something mildly unhinged about him. He was still glancing around and eyeing her like she might pounce. The year in hiding had not been kind. 

"No thank you. I am getting along adequately without the meddling of you and your brood. Your witchery disrupted my negotiations which have taken no small effort to arrange. If you are through interrogating me, I would prefer to return to my life," he declared. His blaster had not been lowered. She had been about to reply when the sound of voices and laughter emerged beyond them on the road. The distraction gave him the opportunity to bolt into the jungle.

"Wait!" she called uselessly. She took off after him, surprised by his persistence to get away. He was surprisingly lithe, bounding over logs and firing sporadically in her direction. "Hux stop this!" She urged easily dodging his pulses. She lept over a small brook and landed roughly. When she stood and scanned ahead he was no longer visible. She reached out with her senses, straining for clues through the sea of life energy humming around her. There it was up ahead, he was not far. 

The ground began to slope sharply downward and at the bottom were two interesting developments: a large and indescribably deep mud pit, and Hux submerged to his chest.

"Stop moving! You are making it worse," she called down to him from the top of the slope.

"Just stay out of my way!" He called back up, but there was poorly concealed fear in his voice. He was still trying to get to the other side of the pit which could be another 20 feet deep for all they knew.

"Hux, if you don't stop moving, I am going to turn around and let you drown. It is a sinking pit. You will need to be pulled free," she reasoned. 

He opened his mouth to reply and his eyes widened comically. "There's something moving in here," he announced. 

Of course there was. Did he not notice they were in a jungle?

He took a slow step back toward her side of the pit when he gave a panicked yelp as something dragged him beneath the mud. Rey quickly slid down the hill to where his blaster lay in the shallows of the mud. There was barely movement in the viscous sludge. She reached out toward the surface and force-tugged on his struggling body. His head breached the surface.

"It's got my leg!" He sputtered. 

"I know, hang on," she answered pulling him several more feet toward her, but the creature was incredibly strong. She fired the blaster in the general area beyond Hux. Twice...three times. With the fourth shot it went limp and Hux came skidding across the muddy shore. "Are you alright?" she asked immediately, rolling him onto his back. He groaned in response. "Your leg, its…" 

He sat up quickly at her solemn tone and observed with relief that the leg was indeed still attached to his body. However, the cloth of his pants and his skin had been lacerated severely. The mud in the wound only complicated his prognosis. "This is your fault, you know," he declared.

Her eyebrows rose to her hairline. "Excuse me? I didn't force you to go frolicking through the jungle."

"You showed up and just had to get involved. The scavenger always at the heart of the problem," he accused tersely while attempting to get to his feet. 

"You really have some nerve. I just saved your life, which would not have been in danger had you not run. You should be thanking me," she retorted, arms crossed in a refusal to help him any further. 

He managed to get up, sacrificing more of his precious poise than he was comfortable with in her presence. "In your dreams, girl. You saved me so that you could continue your interrogation." 

"Okay suit yourself." She climbed back up the hill, leaving him near the mud-pit with the oddest mix of seething and anxiety evident on his dirty face. "Oh, I'll leave your blaster up here so it won't get knocked in the mud again. These things love to jam up," she offered helpfully. 

She had only made it a dozen or so yards from the hill when he hollered, "Wait! Ok."

"Ok what?" She called over her shoulder.

"Ok," there was a considerable pause here and she imagined him gritting his teeth, "Thank you for saving me. Now can you get me up this hill?"

That was faster than she expected. She peered back over the slope at his muddied body and narrowed eyes. "Yes. Hold still." She extended an arm and once again, force-pulled him through the air to land beside her. He leaned on the nearest tree to steady himself, avoiding her eyes. She eyed the oozing wound on his left shin. "We have to get that cleaned immediately. I have supplies back home or I can help you to your ship if it is close," she offered. 

He eyed her reprovingly, now, as if he was finally seeing her. She couldn't possibly want to help him for any good reason. She had only ever shown up in the past to foil his plans. But his leg presented an acute problem. The thought of any manner of pathogen or parasite worming its way into his bloodstream from the filth covering the gash turned his stomach. He swayed almost imperceptibly on his feet and she took a reflexive step toward him. "I am fine. I can walk," he declared holding up a palm to stop her.

"Okay. My place or yours?" 

Her face betrayed no inkling of that being intentionally suggestive. She seemed to genuinely require an answer. His barely functioning ship was out here, about an hour's walk west of the city. The small transport vessel he had stolen to escape the Dreadnaught had seen better days. He had all but crash landed on this tangled jungle mess to make contact with a smuggler of a very coveted new commodity to the market. He needed to resupply and see to some major repairs of the bio systems. But that would require credits he did not have without brokering this deal. He had no desire to reveal the reality of his living situation to this scavenger turned war hero. "I suspect yours will be closer. I will tend to this wound and then be on my way," he intoned with as much authority as he could hobbling to pick up his blaster.

"We will need to use the roadway, with your leg like this. Unless you think I should carry you," she suggested.

"Absolutely not. I've had about enough handling from Force witchery for one lifetime. We'll use the roadway. I will walk." Something about the way he said 'handling' implied a much more heinous connotation. She let it be.

"I'll lead the way."


	2. Chapter 2

The sun was setting by the time Rey's dwelling peeked out over the trees. The cities of Dagomir 3 were built up high in raised tree foundations, evolved from ground level villages vulnerable to wildlife attacks. Cities had walls that closed at night when the most aggressive animals were active. The building Rey had chosen for home base was two stories built on 30 foot stilts. It was outside of the city walls but the entry stairwell was retractable for security. When she decided she was going to settle in for a while, she had set up a functioning generator and water purifier for the catchment system. She designed improvements to the doors and window locks. All in all, her time here had been peaceful.

At the base, Hux peered up as if debating to voice concerns about how she expected him to climb up there until he heard a click and rolling release of the stairwell under the foundation. 

"You've been spending far too much time with the natives," he remarked dryly as they ascended into the first floor. 

"You're welcome to stay down on the ground and discover what the scent of your blood hails to our location." He did not respond, now preoccupied with the interior. The first floor had been set up with modest appliances - a cook-top, a HoloNet portal, a few trunks of supplies and tools. She disappeared into a small room containing her fresher and he could hear her rooting around in cupboards. 

She returned with bacta strips and other medical supplies in both hands but hesitated. "My suggestion is bathing first. We should soak the clothing as well." 

She was right. He was completely encased in drying mud. His filthy damp clothing was competing with the pain in his leg for discomfort ratings. Without replying he began shedding the thin black tunic and brown vest. He dropped them where he stood and headed for fresher. "I suspect you won't try anything while I am indisposed."

Her brows wrinkled with disbelief. "Because you weren't 'indisposed' enough out in the sinking pits? Right. And try not to get blood on every available surface, yeah?"

He finished disrobing in the privacy of the restroom. Sadly she did own a mirror and he caught his horrid reflection in it before he could stop himself. He was unrecognizable with his fiery hair muted in filth. He turned away quickly to start the flow of water in her narrow fresher stall. He scrubbed away the grime angrily. He was wasting time here. He had no way of knowing if his contact would be willing to meet again after he had abruptly ended their negotiations. He was temporarily stuck here with the scavenger and her stupid questions. She could be transmitting a message with his location to her Republic pals this very minute. He needed to regain control of the situation, he thought desperately as he dried off and wrapped his lower half in a towel.

She looked up from where she was wringing out his tunic into a basin, giving him a quick once-over before settling on the leg. It looked better with the dirt removed but the skin was broken in many places. Whatever had tried to eat Hux had been well equipped to do so.

"I don't own a lot of clothing, I'm afraid. This might be the only thing that will work for now," she admitted handing him a balled up robe. She had taken it from the room she stayed in on Coruscant. It was plain cream colored woven fabric and whisper soft.

He donned it without a fuss and sat down at the small table near her cooking area. She wordlessly set out antiseptic and sterile bacta strips and went to dunk his muddied pants into the basin. With her back turned to him she continued from their initial conversation. "So what are you smuggling?"

She heard him still for a second before continuing to open fresh bacta. "That is none of your concern, scavenger."

Rey felt her hackles rising and breathed deeply before turning to face him slowly. "If you learn nothing else from this day, it will be that my name is Rey, not 'scavenger'. He eyed her carefully before continuing with his leg care. He had it propped up on the table at an angle that demanded a lot from the borrowed bathrobe to preserve his modesty.

"Rey, it is none of your concern," he corrected quietly. "Why should you care what an ex-general has to peddle to make ends meet?" She watched him meticulously layer strips onto his wounds as if he were creating some masterpiece. 

"I have taken an interest in some of the crime that has sprung up around here lately," she offered. The answering huff was confirmation that Hux was not convinced. 

"You must be extremely bored with no governments to sabotage if you are chasing down smugglers in the outer rim," he deadpanned.

She hated that he might be right. The child abductions gave her somewhere to focus her abilities to do good. Otherwise what was there? Back to Coruscant to make policy proposals and reparations to worlds ravaged from First Order rule? She would rather swallow sand. "I don't chase smugglers, but something drew me to your negotiations today." She stood over him, arms crossed. "So what was that guy looking to buy?"

He refused to be dominated, despite the reality of his current situation. He needed some control to feel grounded. He finished with the leg, feeling a headache forming behind both temples and stood up. Yes, it was good to be tall. 

"What makes you so sure he was buying anything?"

Her Darogese was weak on some of the subject orientations and had to admit she could not tell who was offering and who was buying. However, she knew how to find out and Hux was making it very tempting. "It will be better…" she started slowly, "if you just tell me." 

The narrowing of his brows confirmed he had taken her meaning loud and clear. His expression darkened dramatically. 

"Why's that? Because if I don't, you'll just take it?" He let out a mirthless chuckle. "You're all the same…flouting your witchery as if you have some right-"

"I would prefer not to. I know what that feels like," she interjected quietly. Kylo Ren, had not been gentle when he wanted information, and she suspected Hux had been on the receiving end of that more times than was healthy. But he wasn't leaving her many options. She tried another angle. "Tell me and we're square. I saved you and in return I would like to know what you were negotiating."

He turned away from her feeling his control slipping away once again. He spotted his blaster on the counter and debated the wisdom of going for it.

"Don't, Hux. I am not your enemy anymore. But I will defend myself if you try something stupid. C'mon, is it spice? What were you-"

"K-serum. I am brokering a trade for it between two parties." As an afterthought he added, "Spice? You must be joking," 

She mouthed the word with confusion. She had been living on this planet for months and had not heard of it. "Well it's some other drug, then. Same difference. You could have just said so earlier."

"It is not well known yet. You can't just stand on some corner slinging it like some derelict spice hustler. The market is forming and I am trying to get ahead of it. There, does that satisfy your neighborhood watch?"

"How is it created? Do they grow it somewhere?"

He rolled his eyes, taking his seat again. Why couldn't she let up? His head was pounding now.

"I haven't figured that out yet. But I know it comes from this planet and only from this planet. Some animal perhaps. They are very tight-lipped about the details. It took weeks for me to even get in front of that dealer today."

"Is it harmful?"

"It's a DRUG, girl. Aren't they all harmful? It's supposed to lead to some sort of performance enhancement or endorphins...It doesn't really matter."

Rey began pacing. Why would she have been drawn to their negotiations? Spice got traded all around her and she had not been compelled to get involved. He watched her restless circuit in the sitting area before a large window. The sun had set quickly and the view of the canopy was varying shades of inky greens and indigo. She worried her bottom lip in a strangely mortal habit for what her reputation would have you expect. The story was definitely out about how she had faced off against an evil Sith lord to save the universe. The battle on Exegol was now legend although there were so many tales of it one did not know what to believe. Most reports said Kylo Ren, or now Ben Solo, had perished down in the main temple. One said he escaped and fled once the battle was lost. What Hux did know was that Ren had been obsessed with this scavenger girl, and if he wasn't hiding upstairs in her house, his money was on him being dead.

"I could use water," he announced with his head now spinning. He needed to rest. He had lost a decent amount of blood on the hike here, combined with sweating his life away in the tropical climate, he was feeling less than ideal.

"Yes of course." She poured him some from the purifier spout and watched his throat bob as he downed it all. "I am ok with you staying the night. I have extra bedding. I know you can't wait to be rid of me, but you won't make it a mile in the dark. The house is 30 feet up for a reason."

He weighed his non-existent options. In the morning he could set about making contact with the dealer again. He could explain he suspected a tail. Tomorrow he would wake up without a headache, walk away and get back to his shitty life.

"Only because you forced my hand, scaven- Rey. "

She raised an elegant brow but did not comment. She started to prepare a simple meal of steamed grain and herbs. It was very common here and economical. He ate more than she expected him to for such humble offerings. This had to be a far cry from the splendor of his life onboard the Supremacy. But he downed it without question or snide remark. 

She pulled out the extra bedding and set it out in the small seating area near the window. 

"There's plenty more water if you need it. It rains a hell of a lot here. I sleep upstairs," she announced heading up to the second level. 

She lay in bed listening to the insects chirp outside trying not to keep reminding herself that Armitage Hux was sleeping in her living room. The destroyer of planets turned rebellion spy. He was one of the last people she thought ever to lay eyes upon again. He was just as snarky and entitled as she remembered but life in the outer rim did not seem to agree with him. She absolutely detected one or two ribs on display when he stripped out of his filthy garments. He had come from some money, but it must have run out. Perhaps it was just as well he got to walk life in another's shoes this past year. He had treated the inhabitants of Jakku and other rim worlds as harvesting grounds for future storm troopers and little else. Maybe he would emerge with a new perspective on life, whatever that was.

She drifted into a troubled sleep and woke just before the sun. She reached out and could feel that Hux was indeed still asleep downstairs. She was careful not to wake him, now aware that he had practice detecting the Force even in proximity to his own mind. She got up and climbed to the crow's nest. The morning air was damp and crisp. It had rained overnight. She slipped into meditation trying not to guide her thoughts but let them fade away. Leia had given her the most instruction in this area, and while she wondered at its usefulness at the time, she now considered it routine. 

With her thoughts gone quiet she could feel everything around her magnified. She remembered a time when Ben would unintentionally invade her meditations. Again, the dull ache that was still healing. Into the vacuum he'd left, other life begged to fill it. Hux on her periphery, fitting away in restless sleep. She could feel wildlife all over, the plants humming with photosynthesis, even city-dwellers rousing a quarter-mile away tucked behind their walls. She did not know how long she stayed this way but the sun was properly risen when her eyelids fluttered open. 

She ventured down to the first level to see what state of get-the-hell-out-of-here Hux was in.   
She was surprised to see him still laid out on the bedding. 

"Hux. You getting up?"

She inquired and hesitated when she got a better look at him. He was sweating profusely and breathing a little heavier than one typically did in their sleep. She grabbed a bio reader from her medical stash and took his temperature. It was marginally elevated. She shook his shoulder to wake him and he shot up, bleary-eyed and panicked.

"Hey. You have a fever," she declared hoping to bring him 'round to reality. He mumbled something before getting his wits sorted. 

"Water."

She refilled his glass from last night and he gulped it down in a rush, drips of water joining the sweat on his neck and chest. She filled it again and he drank it, albeit slower this time. 

"You might be battling an infection."

"I'm fine. I will just rest a bit longer and be on the way," he countered, laying back down with a thud. 

Without preamble she flipped up a corner of the sheet and eyed his leg. There was diffuse red beyond the borders of his careful bacta matrix. 

"Definitely infection."

He groaned. 

She weighed the option to Force-heal, but it was a terrible drain on her energy with no way of knowing if she was sealing in the infection. 

"I will run to town for medication. If you choose to limp out of here with a fever and die, it is on you." She didn't wait for his reply she grabbed her staff and headed out at a brisk jog. 

He did not know why she was being so damned helpful, but he didn't trust it. People were kind when they needed something from you, he'd learned this at a very tender age. They got what they wanted and the kindness ended. Perhaps she thought he knew more about this K-serum than he let on. He did not, not really. He intended to learn more than he had by this point but it was difficult to get locals to trust a newcomer. Once this leg fiasco was over he needed to double down. If someone else beat him to the brokerage he didn't have a plan b for sustainable income. 

He might have drifted in and out of sleep a few more times before Rey returned. He was having trouble focusing on her face when she materialized in front of him holding a syringe. He instantly recoiled from her.

"Hey I have something that will help. I consulted a healer."

"Don't touch me with that," he breathed out, or at least he thought he did. But he felt the prick and tingling dispersion of the medication

"I had to. It is the best way to deliver the antiparasitic agent."

He might have made some declaration of displeasure but did not recall. He did wake up tangled in the borrowed bedding and robe in need of another shower, but his head was clear and the pain in his leg was considerably improved. 

"How long was I unconscious?" He demanded to the room.

"A few hours. It is past midday.”

This was getting out of hand. He needed to get out of here he realized, feeling a panic brewing. "Thank you for your assistance but it's high time this visit was over," he announced while scanning the room for his clothing. 

"I'm not stopping you," she replied, chopping fruit into a dish. "I don't know where your ship is but you have a few good hours of daylight. 

He eyed the melon chunks as they each landed successfully beside their kin with a wet plunk. Another shower would be nice as well. No. Make contact. Secure the deal. Use the deposit to fix his raggedy ship and get the serum off planet. He disappeared into the restroom with his mostly dry clothing and gave his reflection another go. Better, but still not great. The weight loss left haunting shadows beneath his cheekbones. No wonder she thought he was slinging spice. First Order Hux would not recognize this desperate shell of the man. He put his clothes on quickly and when he emerged she had bundled some of her melon bounty into a cloth and set it next to his blaster. 

"You'll need the calories after your ordeal," she explained. "Maybe steer clear of mud pits on your way back?"

He grabbed both quickly, unsure how to react to the continued kindness. "Maybe don't hunt me with your sorcery and I will get on just fine," he quipped with as much snark as he could muster. 

She lowered the stairs and called down a quick, "Take care of yourself, Hux."


	3. Chapter 3

There were currently four missing Dagorian children as of yesterday. They disappeared from temple lessons and Rey's previous sources on these matters knew nothing. She took no rest during her investigations, as time was of the essence. If they were taken off-planet they were as good as gone. The slave trade somehow persisted through every manner of galactic rule in history. There was a combined reward for information leading to them being found alive, but Rey was committed to helping regardless.

She had interviewed everyone who taught and worked at the temple. Hey language skills were certainly improving as she seemed to get more information by deviating from Standard. Their species was not particularly susceptible to Force persuasion, but she could easily discern if they were being genuine. No one had seen them being abducted or noticed their absence until the end of the day. Whomever was responsible was getting more careful. 

Her previous rescues found them hidden in abandoned homes and she checked those again. Nothing. Now she staked out a rug manufacturing storage facility in a less populated part of the city. It was both a hunch and a long shot but the wealthiest families traded textiles. Cartels tended to have alternative lines of business beside their illegal trade and thus Rey was willing to search the most lucrative businesses for clues. 

She watched from afar as workers loaded rugs onto transport lifts destined for export. She reached out with her senses, feeling the humdrum of repetitive work energy. She focused on each worker individually. There was nothing out of the ordinary for any of them for over an hour. Then a familiar presence arrived at the factory. She could clearly make out Hux's festival contact heading into a smaller warehouse toward the back. A sharp tug in her core was all the push she needed to know she was on the right track. She waited until the working crowd thinned out before using the shadows to sneak her way to the smaller building in the rear. She sensed several lifeforms inside and soon realized she had found them. 

Breaking in was not difficult. But once she opened the trap door behind all the stacked bins, she knew they would be aware of her arrival. She pulled it open and dropped behind some crates. As expected, the Dagorian male cautiously emerged with a blaster. 

"Who are you working for?" She materialized behind, saber drawn. They were a tall species and his 6.5 foot frame cast a shadow over her.

"You should mind your business, girl."

"Maybe once you tell me where these kids are being taken?"

He started laughing, which never seemed to be a good thing in these situations. She focused on retrieving the information by force and was met with quite a bit of resistance. 

"Your kind can't affect us," he proclaimed proudly and squeezed a few shots off at her. She easily deflected them, one catching him in the neck. He sputtered and choked.

"Who are you sending these children to? Tell me and I'll save you!" She bartered. He did not respond and was dead in seconds. She was disappointed to not have her answers but that could wait.

The children were caged separately and connected by the back of the neck to some tubing. They were alive but seemed sedated. Rey didn't like the look of the tubing that seemed to be collecting a clear yellowish liquid. She commed the authorities and advised them to bring healers.

\---

Hux had been hard at work for days following his botched negotiations. His contact had been rather insulted by his abrupt departure and was hesitant to re-engage. He claimed he had another offer to move the serum. The guy could be bluffing but Hux could not deal in uncertainties. The cartels he was hoping to open relations with would not take kindly to a deal 'falling though'. If only the scavenger knew how precarious she had made his situation. 

He was grease smeared and fatigued from attempts to clean and repair the ship’s bio systems. No matter how well-tuned he might get the engine once he could source the parts, if it couldn't cycle oxygen he wouldn't be going anywhere. 

"Permission to come aboard."

Hux startled so badly he dropped his socket-wrench (missed his foot). He had his blaster aimed in an impressive show of reflexes. "Dammit, scavenger."

The ramp was down to let air into the powered-down vessel, and currently supported the weight of the would-be Jedi. Her cheeks were tinged pink from her long hike which contrasted in an alluring way with the forest green tunic and arm wraps. He had never had a visitor to date. His ship was not docked in the public port inside the city, but in the jungle for privacy in his dealings. She tossed a wrapped bundle at him and took advantage of his catching reflex to climb the ramp. 

"What are you doing here, girl? Our business is concluded." His affronted tone did not discourage Rey one bit.

"You weren't that hard to find. The locals notice anyone crazy enough to take up residence  _ out _ side the city walls," she declared, avoiding his question as he unwrapped the half-melon.

"I do not need your charity," he ground out.

"It isn't charity. I am paying the toll, to come speak with you," she rebounded matter-of-factly, turning to inspect the panel he had open. Her disarming half smirk was competing with his prickly hide.

"As I repeat, we have nothing else to discuss." Gods the melon smelled wonderful. The food he consumed in her dwelling had been the first in weeks that were not the dried rations he stored on the ship. 

"How's the leg?"

"It...it's fine. Better. Don't touch that...what are you doing?"

She had reached inside the panel, standing on tiptoe to access something all the way inside. "These are impossible to clean this way. But if you remove the whole mechanism," she started, pulling something free with enough force she stumbled back into his chest, "you can just douse this entire filter in hydrostatic wash. These old vessels always have some stored."

How the devil would she even...oh, right.  _ Scavenger _ . He felt utterly foolish for even questioning it. "Splendid. Now what are you expecting in return for  _ that _ pearl of wisdom?" 

"Your contact is dead."

"What do you mean?"

"He is dead. Did you not see the news...about the missing children?" She pulled out a data pad and tapped it a few times before holding up an article. The deceased Dagorian was featured. He took it from her, skimming the article quickly. 

"I had heard something about some local children. What does this have to do with my contact?"

"I found him guarding the missing children, and," she paused, measuring her next words, "I believe I know where your K-serum is harvested."

Hux was dumbfounded. How had she managed to find that in a matter of days when he had been here for weeks? When she didn't immediately continue he barked "Well? Out with it, then."

"They are extracting it from Dagorian children. The local government does not want this published. But there is a growth hormone the children here secrete. It helps them grow tall quickly and painlessly. It helps their brain development," she explained. The healer she discussed it with had suggested it even helped their species against Force persuasion, but Rey did not feel comfortable sharing this with Hux.

He was trying to process the information without betraying his thoughts. He had not anticipated the source would be quite so unsavoury. He had been all for using children to build his storm trooper ranks, after all, they were joining something greater than themselves. He was helping them realize their otherwise wasted potential. This left him feeling surprisingly dirty.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I realize now why I was drawn to you and that tent." She took a step toward him, the height difference forcing her chin upwards. "I need to find out who the stakeholders are in this, and bring them down. If this drug is allowed to pick up demand, none of these children will be safe. I am going to need your help."

His laughter was unexpected.

"Are you actually serious?" The little line forming between her furrowed brows indicated she was quite serious and not sharing his humor. "I explained to you that these cartels are potentially to be my  _ only _ source of income for the foreseeable future...that I flew specifically to this feral planet to source an item that they have confirmed an interest in so that I could broker a trade. Are you expecting me to return to these same cartels empty-handed and what... rig the place with explosives?"

"No. Get me inside. I rig the explosives."

He couldn't believe the nonsense coming out of her mouth. "You're daft. There is a reason these crime lords have survived every empire to date. Even the First Order couldn't actually be rid of them. I've lost count of how many deals and trade routes were negotiated through cartels as opposed to their local governments."

"Those cartels destroy thousands of lives. Slavery, sex trafficking, drug addiction...you name it. It's because no one has the stomach to take them on."

"It has nothing to do with any stomach, girl. They have carved themselves out a niche in this world and when one goes down, another maybe two spring up in their place. It's a fool's errand," he concluded, turning away to find some way to eat the damned melon.

She followed him through his ship. "What if I told you there was a financial incentive to help me?" 

He paused his rooting around for a knife to consider her again. "There is no way you have enough credits to make it worth my while."

"Oh I barely have any credits, just what little I make from the reward money," she agreed sweetly. 

"Then you have your answer. Thank you for this delicious melon. If you would now leave, I could brutishly devour it seeing as how I do not have a way to slice this like a gentleman."

Rey pulled a knife from her belt and sunk it into the panel beside him. However she didn't immediately let go of it, caging him between herself and the cupboards. "I have already reached out to my contacts on Coruscant. They have funds, seized from the First Order holdings, that will be allocated to cleaning up crime seeds. If we can prove effective on this case, we've got ourselves a job. A big one."

He didn't speak for a few moments. He was equal parts caught in the carrot of something resembling a career, and the hazel orbs boring through him. The smell of greenery and rain emanated from her.

"That does not sound guaranteed."

"It is. They have amended several of the old bi-laws concerning inter-galactic crime. They are building a designated force for investigative policing. This," she did finally release the knife to tap the data pad twice more, "will be their new headquarters when completed. General Poe himself is offering us the job." 

He studied the base, being built on Naboo, of all places. It was half-way between the core worlds and the rim, so perhaps there was some logic at play.

She could sense his hesitation. 

"Look. It's a lot for you to consider. But so was choosing to betray the First Order. I could be mistaken, but I think you want to do something that matters. Hux, I promise you,  _ this _ will matter."

She turned to leave, having done all the persuading she dared. "I'm leaving tomorrow at mid-day for Tatooine. The Hutts are never a bad place to start where crime is concerned. If you change your mind."

He silently watched her disappear down the ramp.


	4. Chapter 4

Rey had spent both the evening and following morning stocking her ship for the journey. She packed entirely too much fruit. But then, was there even such a thing? An hour before mid-day she had the house cleaned up and locked. She did not know that she was able to convince Hux that her plan was for the betterment of the galaxy, but she had hoped. She could feel something in him worth stoking and she continued to convince herself it had nothing to do with Ben Solo. Was she somehow drawn to otherwise lost causes? She had been right about Leia’s son in the end. She felt Hux was no exception. He just needed some direction, is all.

It was in the crow’s nest, settled into a light mediation that the sound of leaves and twigs crunching underfoot roused her. Peering over the edge of the roof she couldn’t contain the grin spreading across her face. She flipped gracefully from the roof, landing several yards in front of her would-be traveling companion. He immediately disapproved of being greeted this way but met with her obvious pleasure at seeing him, his complaints died on his lips. He could not recall in his adult life the last time anyone had been happy to see him.

“It is just as well that I might not have shown up,” he insisted.

“Then I would have gotten on alone. I’ve been alone my whole life,” she admitted. “We are more likely to succeed if we work together. I know it.”

“Whatever. Where is this ship of yours?”

“It is over that hill,” she replied, gesturing to a small hill behind the house.”

He did not look enthused to do more walking but he followed her silently. Her ship was at the base of a shallow valley covered in camouflage netting and branches. She uncovered it with the wave of palm and skidded down to the bottom. He followed and joined her up the ramp.

It was small, but it was a nice ship. It was a new-ish model cruiser of a luxury manufacturer. He gritted his teeth as he followed her to the cargo area to deposit his knapsack. He was sleeping in a dank wrecked transport ship while a scavenger cruised around in luxury. How had he fallen so very far? Another thought crossed his mind - he could make a damned good smuggler with a ship like this.

“There is room for a co-pilot, but it's a small ship. There's a mess area, sleeping, fresher…” she rattled off absentmindedly. She slipped into the pilot’s seat and began her pre-flight review of systems.

Hux stiffly slid into the co-pilot's chair and eyed her practiced hands as they danced around the controls. Her fingers were long and elegant but calloused from scrubbing scavenged ship parts for most of her life. He began to vaguely wonder at the list of dichotomies that existed within this small woman - conqueror of the Sith. 

"Tatooine is a standard cycle out if the trade routes are decent right now," she informed him.

"Actually, we would have better luck gaining information if we started a bit closer to the action," he suggested. Her hands stilled.

"How close?"

"The larger Hutt territories have the type of population that could actually afford the serum. Were I successful with the Dagorians, Nal Hutta was where I intended to start bargaining for a contract." 

She seemed to kick the idea around. He was probably correct. Nal Hutta was mid-rim and more populated than the desert outposts. The Hutt crime networks were well established there. "Alright," she agreed firmly. "It's obviously further...two maybe three cycles if we use the sparser routes."

"I second staying off the major trade routes. Your ship looks spry, but I would prefer not to deal with pirates."

She nodded and programmed their coordinates. Her ship was no slouch in the speed department. The one item she could justify blowing most of her credits on after her decision to leave Coruscant, was a ship made in this decade. There was something to be said for a ship that was not constantly in need of repairs, workarounds, or upgrades just to get by. 

As the jungle planet disappeared behind them Rey brought them to a cruising speed and started to reach across Hux to lock the navigation. She retracted her hand as if he'd burned her. "I'm sorry... It's been...I don't usually fly with a co-pilot these days. Do you mind?"

He obliged her, noting the barely discernible coloring on her cheeks. "What happened? Did 2187's charm finally wear thin? Honeymoon phases have their expiry dates and all that…" 

"What? No...Finn and I are friends. He and Jannah are helping ex-troopers reconnect to their home worlds."

"I see. And the other pilot...Dameron.

"General Dameron, yeah."

"He chose a life of politics and reform over wandering the galaxy with his Jedi ace?"

She did not like the implication of that. 'His Jedi' framed their relationship like she had been some sort of pet or mascot. She left the pilot's seat in a strange need to put some distance between them. "Poe is a leader. He is needed on Coruscant...and I am not," she finished softly. "What do you care anyway?". He had swiveled in his chair to continue observing her, obviously enjoying his ability to get some semblance of a rise from her. His green eyes were smug. 

"I prefer to know who might take an interest in our travelling together, given my...history." He crossed his long legs casually, looking altogether too comfortable.

"We're fine. Poe will only interfere if I ask him to." It wasn't untrue, but Rey was choosing not to disclose that she had not mentioned Hux to Poe. The job he spoke of was for Rey. But she knew if Hux could prove himself...that helping the Rebellion wasn't a self-limiting occurrence, she could secure him a place. His resume just needed some help.

He seemed to accept this. She changed the subject. "Tell me about the Hutts."

His coppery brows rose. "Surely a scavenger raised on Jakku has learned plenty about the Hutts and their brood." She let out an impatient breath. It was amazing how difficult the man found it to be forthcoming. He was in constant search of control.

"I have never been to Nal Hutta. Yes, I know about their people. Tell me about the Hutts we are actually going to meet there _._ "

"Dorba is in charge. He is young, for a Hutt anyway. He can be ruthless but I am counting on his fresh entrepreneurial spirit to allow an audience."

"So you haven't met him?"

"No, but the First Order had negotiated with him in the past. He will probably recognize me. If there's no actual bounty on my head, that shouldn't necessarily pose a problem."

"Seeing as how you died on the command deck of the _Steadfast_ , I'd say you're safe." He watched her retreat to the back of the ship, wondering at the wisdom of his decision to join her quest. 'Safe' was not a term he ever used to describe the world he lived in. Even at the height of the First Order, there were invisible targets on his back at all times. He had never had any friends in his adult life. He learned in his academy days that friendship was an illusion to cover the true reasons anyone would choose to ally themselves with him. His own father had not even wanted to be kind to him, why should anyone else?

As the hours passed and Hux had read what little was available in public reports on K-serum confiscations, he joined Rey at the small table in the mess area. 

"Do you play?" She asked, indicating an empty Dejarik board. 

"I am familiar with it."

She started it up and offered him the first move. Having the game reminded her so fondly of Chewie and Han. It was a must-have as she set out alone in a changing galaxy. She had played often against the system, and lost often but she had improved considerably. A half-hour in she realized Hux had clearly minimized the extent of his experience. She wasn't doing particularly well.

"I wouldn't have expected you had time to hone your skills between chasing us down and destroying innocent planets," she remarked cheekily.

He eyed her, feeling his own hackles threatening to rise. He was not proud of what he had to do to appease Snoke and save his own neck. His reasons for throwing his lot into the First Order were about being in charge and instilling _actual_ order to the galaxy. The Sith dark power agenda only complicated things for him after the fact. He chose not to indulge her, instead devouring another one of her pieces.

"Life is a game of Dejarik, scavenger."

She hated being called that and he knew it. She threw a glare in his direction taken aback by the predatory look in his vibrant eyes. She glanced between his face and the board, suddenly splitting her attention between deciding how it made her feel and making her next move. He raised a coppery eyebrow. "Should we have used the timer?"

She moved again and watched his face for a response. He barely hazarded a glance at the new formation...choosing instead to meet her stare. She swallowed, reflexively reaching with her senses into the void between them. She recognized this as a frequently-utilized precursor to her fight or flight responses. She tried to read his intent without actually trespassing, but she always underestimated the extent of his Force-abuse PTSD. 

"If you are going to resort to your sorcery in an attempt to save your campaign I will have no part of it," he declared suddenly standing to leave the table. 

"No! I wasn't. Wait…" she grabbed his wrist. "I'm sorry. It's a habit to... I dunno...feel what's going on. I was not going to intrude. I will not, you have my word." She let go of his arm, somewhat embarrassed by the optics. He studied his wrist where she had held it as if she had left some mark. "Come, now. It was your move. Don't you want to finish me off?"

Hux felt his body return to his seat of its own accord. He moved a piece, she lost another one.

"It can be like walking into a cantina," she explained quietly into the thick silence, "you know, one that has really good food. You can take a good whiff without dipping a finger into the stew." She moved again and took one of his pieces. He kept his eyes on the board this time and moved again. 

"So what's your nose telling you?"

On the board, she was properly cornered again. He was back in his element, watching her intently. There was nothing like seeing the exact moment defeat registered on your opponent's face. "It's telling me that you play a savage game of Dejarik," she decided as she made the final move into defeat. "Seriously, you might actually give Chewie a run for his money."

He guffawed. "Please. That living throw-rug has probably had 150 years to practice." 

“Hey. That ‘throw-rug’ is one of the best men I have ever known,” she deadpanned as she cleared the table to start their supper. 

He didn’t like the feeling of inadequacy that suddenly washed over him. Why should he care how he ranked with the men in the scavenger’s life? To be accurate, he wasn’t even technically ‘in’ her life so much as he was passing through. If this little mission of hers panned out to a salaried position in the new regime, he would take it and gladly consider their alliance concluded. He would start his ascension once more after some time had passed. He had always been damned good at his job. He wouldn’t need her help after this quest. Rey broke him out of his reverie by setting a steamy bowl of seasoned grain under his nose.

“Sorry this is all there is. It was so cheap to come by on planet and it is rather nutrient-dense.” She reclaimed her seat from earlier and started fluffing the contents of the bowl with her fork. “I did bring fruit though, if you’re into that.” He watched her dig in with child-like gusto, instead of touching his own. She perched more so than sat in her chair with one knee folded up into her chest. She ate fast as well, he noticed with disapproval. It was time to get something off his chest.

“How is it that a...Jakku native, literally raised on the streets, speaks like an educated Hosnian woman?”

“I don’t know," Rey answered slowly. "I mean my parents spoke this way before they left me there and HoloNet educational vids are often broadcast from core worlds,” she explained, wary of where the conversation might lead.

“I see. And where are your parents from?”

“How should I know? I was just a small child when they left me.” It wasn’t entirely true. She now knew who her parents were...had even spent time in imperial records to learn their names and that they lived briefly on Coruscant before presumably going on the run. But she wasn’t ready to discuss any of it with Hux. She still had a hard time grappling with it herself even after all this time. “Are your parents alive?” she ventured cautiously. He snorted at the question.

“No.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” she said somberly.

“I’m not. My father deserved what he got and his wife...she was not a mother to me.” He cleared his dish, cleaning it out in the sink. “Where would you like me to sleep, Captain Rey?”

“You can have the cot. I’m going to be up front for a while.”

“As you wish.” The sleeping quarters were small, with what appeared to be two narrow cots that had been bolted down together to be used as one larger one. He suspected that was her doing given her solitary nature. He didn’t dwell on it and went about trying to get a few hours of sleep.

Rey watched the stars for some time before drifting off in the pilot’s chair.


	5. Chapter 5

Rey had slept a handful of hours in the pilot's seat for the second consecutive day. She got up to stretch and was immediately dealt her punishment for poor sleeping conditions. She cracked her neck and sensed her companion was awake, to her mild surprise. She found him seated at the table with tea and his data pad.

"There's more tea," he offered without looking up. 

She grunted a response and reached for the kettle as it suddenly dawned on her he was actually being decent. She eyed him discreetly not wanting to spoil the moment. He appeared to have groomed sometime this morning and his usually firey hair appeared dark and slightly dampened. His cheeks were shaven and smooth. She supposed it was harmless to acknowledge he was not unattractive, especially while not in the throws of a facsist rant or slinging insults about her upbringing. The care he took with his appearance while living in the shadows spoke to the discipline Rey imagined he was accustomed to. She sat across from him gingerly with her mug. 

"Anything good?"

He snorted disdainfully. "Not particularly. They've passed some ridiculous law about compensating soldiers based on a standard salary. I wait eagerly for their declaration of bankruptcy."

"A soldier's life is very challenging. They absolutely should be paid well."

"I give them two years. There is a reason I ran recruitment the way that I did. Troopers got a modest stipend if they survived their first year "

"So you forced them to start working for free?"

He hesitated to answer, anticipating her growing disapproval. "It's not fiscally astute to throw money at soldiers in the riskiest time frame of their careers. If they proved to be assets, they were placed on First Order books. We invested heavily in their training."

No wonder whole platoons had deserted as Finn had. Raiding villages in search of rebellion sympathizers and firing on civilians before even being on payroll was a lot to ask even for brainwashed soldiers. She took a sip of her cooling tea and choked at the strength of it. "This isn't tea."

The short laugh that escaped him was surprisingly genuine. "I've always preferred it on the stronger side. Go on," he encouraged, "it will, as they say, put hair on your chest."

It was Rey's turn to laugh. Abandoning the tea to crack open a melon from her fruit hoard. "I think I prefer my chest hair-free, if it's all the same to you." She set the chopped up fruit on a single dish between them to share. "Besides, I prefer the warmer climates. The less hair the better."

"Then Dagomir 3 was an excellent choice," he claimed, schooling his errant thoughts away from hairless bodies. "It has one season year-round...muggy."

"You're not wrong. I like it though. Jakku was so barren. I think the only resource there was rummaged ship parts." They both dug into the melon for a while before, “what planet are you from?”

He studied her for a brief moment deciding there was no substantial reason to withhold that from her. “It’s called Arkanis.”

“I’ve never heard of it. I suppose you miss it?”

“I do not. But the climate was much more tolerable than Jakku or Dathomir 3. It did rain quite a lot though," he added absently, becoming lost in some memory. Rey watched him pushing some of the rinds around without purpose and was immediately curious about what his childhood might have been like. Obviously he had not gotten on well with his father. He had also mentioned his father’s wife...had he known his mother? She wished she could ask, but she was slowly learning things about the ex-general. He did not like to divulge information about himself, least of all before he was ready.

“I love the rain,” she shared, breaking the silence. “I love the sound, the smell...the way it drowns everything else out.”

“A child of the desert growing up to worship rainfall. How predictable,” he intoned dryly. Her somewhat listless smile stayed in place.

\---

Rey had retreated to the cargo area to submerse herself in a healing trance. She felt the Force moving through her achey muscles and joints, restoring flexibility and resolving inflammation. It dampened the apprehension she felt about the task that lay ahead of them. All was possible in the balanced Force and the balanced individual.

Hux found her this way and lingered awkwardly in the entrance to the cargo area. She hovered a full meter off the floor, tails of her tunic drifting weightlessly about her. She appeared so at peace in her surroundings Hux swore it was catching. He found himself not wanting to disturb her. His experience with Snoke and Kylo Ren's sorcery had been largely painful or oppressive. Between getting choked, tossed, and mind-raped somewhat on the regular, his preconceived notions were drastically at odds with the cloud of zen around Rey in this moment. Eventually, she sensed that he was there and her hazel eyes met his green ones as her legs unfolded gracefully to the floor.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes. I'm s...I wanted to discuss the particulars of our plan now that we are within comm range of the planet."

"Of course. I'm all yours," she declared, raising a canteen of water to her lips. The fact that he had been suspiciously on the verge of apologizing for his intrusion and now wore some semblance of a blush across both cheeks, Rey began to suspect Hux had little experience in casual friendship. She and Poe or Finn had teased and bantered with each other relentlessly while working together.

"Right. I've sent out some feeler messages to known liasons on the surface. The goal is for me to meet with one of them and gain an audience with Dorba." She nodded in agreement. "Once we get the ok, we use the opportunity to figure out Dorba's distribution plan... what other buyers he might have lined up or already sold to in the past. He may have other brokers he will try to play against us. Anyone we can identify will be useful if you really mean to stunt this operation."

"Yes. I'd also like to explore his compound. If we are going to collect any visible evidence, that will be the only way to find it."

He considered this, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "Well, there is the subject of a gift."

"What gift?"

"It is customary when being granted an audience to present something to the boss. Something of value or known to be rare. The Hutts love their trinkets."

"I don't have much to offer them that I could actually spare. Do you?"

There was a steely pause. "Well we have a Jedi."

Rey's brows snapped down into a concerned crease. "What are you talking about?"

"It solves two problems. We present _you_ as the gift. Dorba is overjoyed. You will likely be brought deeper inside the compound to a holding area of some kind. I conduct the negotiations and you...use your sorcery to look around the facilities."

"And then I just saunter out the back door once I've seen enough?"

"If it suits you. You will have to break out one way or another. I don't have a desire to go sneaking through a Hutt fortress."

She started pacing. It was actually a good plan for getting inside. Her main problem was having to rely on Hux to stick to it. Their alliance was fairly green, and she would need him not to abandon her there and fly off with her ship. "What guarantee do I have that you will stick to our rendezvous?"

He knew what she was asking. He would have been surprised if she hadn't to be honest. She was waiting expectantly. "It isn't exactly in my best interest to have the Galactic Commonwealth up arms to hunt me down." _Or you for that matter_ , he added silently. "I will give this mission of yours a fair shot. If things don't pan out the way you say they will, I can not guarantee I won't find a situation that better suits me."

Rey could tell it was the best she was going to get out of him. She couldn't sense any deceit or foreboding. She hoped she was putting her trust in the right place. 

Eventually Hux did get Dorba's liaison to agree to meet with him. They put the ship down behind a marsh with exceptionally tall grass. It blew incessantly in the cool air of the swamp planet. The thick cloud cover tinted the sky a sickly yellow hue. She tucked her arms into her poncho, completely at odds with the dank atmosphere. They hiked around the marsh to a large city of mostly single level buildings. They agreed to split up, Hux to a cantina to meet the liaison and Rey to canvas the locals. 

She sensed her way down the main through-way sifting through jumbled thoughts and conversations. She zeroed in on a bar set-up outside with two patrons, both hooded and masked. Only one had a drink and he appeared to selling the other spice. She waited for their business to conclude before taking the now empty seat beside the humanoid. She ordered their local ale and then turned her full attention to the dealer. 

"You got any K-serum?" She asked plainly.

"Don't know what you're talkin' about," he muttered gruffly and immediately got up to leave.

"You wish to stay and answer all of my questions," she intoned quietly, not wishing to attract any attention. After the briefest pause he repeated her. She asked again.

"I haven't gotten my hands on that in weeks."

"Who sold it to you?"

"Some off-worlder. I don't know him."

"Was he human, like me?"

"No, not like you. Tall, and green." Probably Dagorian, she thought.

"Do you know where I can find him?"

"You can't. Boss had him killed."

"For what?"

He shrugged. "Don't know f'sure. But you can't just show up and start dealin' in a Hutt's territory without permission." She almost turned to leave and thought to ask him one more thing.

"How did you feel after you tried it?" This was assuming he had sampled the new drug.

"Crazy good...faded. But I had all this energy..like run-all-night-solve-every-problem kinda energy."

"I see. That'll be all." She was even more annoyed now knowing children were being captured to make a black market version of whatever energy supplements students drank before exams. Perhaps different species experienced different affects.

She rented a speeder before heading back toward the cantina where she'd left Hux. She didn't know the exact location yet of Dorba's fortress but one never knew when they would need to make a hasty exit. Hux was leaning on the wall of the alley beside the cantina with his hood up waiting for her. "So what's the verdict?" she asked once she pulled to a stop. 

"We have the go-ahead. Dorba will allow me an audience." Rey then relayed what she learned from the spice dealer. Hux nodded in consideration. "At least we know for sure Dorba is aware of the market. If you're ready we can head over now...and I insist on driving, if it's all the same to you," he added, indicating the speeder behind her. 

"I'm an excellent driver, if that's what concerns you," she countered, a line forming between her brows.

Hux rubbed his temples. "Rey, I have no lack of confidence in your ability to steer the vehicle. Not only do you have no idea where we are going, we are arriving under the pretense that you are my...prize for Dorba. If we are seen on arrival with me hanging on for dear life...well, you can see how that would be at odds with our ruse."

He could tell by the persistence of that little forehead line and the cross of her arms she was not impressed by this logic. She was fiercely independent, and who could blame her. She might be the only person he knew with as shitty a childhood as he had. But she needed to let him have this. "Only on the way there," she acquiesced. _Only because you called me Rey._

He tried to hide his surprise at her agreement and climbed onto the front of the narrow vehicle. "His fortress is outside of town, surrounded by the swamps. Shouldn't be too long of a...of a trip," he explained, only hesitating when he felt both of her slender arms slide around his waist for stability.

She was not pleased with his constant need to be in control of every situation. But the sudden warmth emanating from his proximity to her effectively buffered her agitation. Her grip tightened to a less than comfortable choke as he peeled away from the curb, but as the built structures passed by and out sight he felt some of the tension leave her grip. The cool wind whipped his hair and hood about and he couldn't stop himself from wishing they were on route to some leisurely activity instead of pulling one over on a crime lord. 

  
  
  
  



	6. Chapter 6

Rey and the ex-general came to a stop just before the terrain took a sharp downward slope into the bogland on which the fortress was built. It consisted of several large domed buildings connected by ornate wooden walk-ways. The center-most dome was the largest and most likely the main hall. 

Hux was fishing something out of a pouch she had not previously noticed. He approached her with it slowly. "Before we go down there, we are going to need you to appear less…" he fished for the most effective description, "...less self-empowered." He held up a collar. It was a dull metal with some gawdy gems bonded on it in various colors. "Dorba is probably not dumb enough to think I captured and contained a Jedi with only a blaster and some binders. I intend to tell him this collar has Force suppressive properties."

After a full pause Rey was fighting to suppress her laughter. Hux scowled.

"You aren't serious! This looks ridiculous… Like some kid decorated this crap."

"Well it was the best I could find under the circumstances. You will have to do some acting, obviously to sell it. Unless you have a better idea." 

She did not.

"It seems light weight. You'll hardly remember it's even there," he encouraged.

"Fine. Here just put it on," she agreed, lifting her chin to give him easier access. His thumbs grazed her pulse points with a slight ticklish sensation. 

"Now the binders," he said with more confidence. "You can take the key, unless of course you don't think you'll be needing it."

She concentrated only a second and she could hear them unlock with a click. "No key. Less likely they will realize we are fooling them when it falls out of my pocket."

He nodded, pocketing the keys in his tunic and continued to consider her appearance. She was in the process of slipping her lightsaber into the waist of her pants beneath her tunic. She still looked like Rey - ridiculous buns, arm wraps, and irrepressible grit. A woman who, without any back-up, voluntarily surrendered herself to the First Order and to Snoke in order to turn their Sith-in-training to the Resistance. She had even lived to tell of it, although Hux had not fully believed she had killed their former Supreme Leader. Ren had never been particularly trustworthy. 

He admitted to himself the bedazzled collar looked unimpressive, but for today it was a Jedi-subduing contraband artifact. He would sell it..he had to.

She was picking up on his nervous energy and realized he was much more vulnerable than she was, especially once they split up. She and her friends had spent plenty of time sneaking into or breaking out of places they did not particularly belong. It was par for the course for staging a rebellion. She was doubtful Hux had much experience in this aspect of their quest. 

"You know that while we are in there, we are a team. We get in...gather our intel and get out. If you get into trouble...I'll know. Just keep him talking about the serum."

I'll know. There was something in the way she emphasized this that was both ominous and reassuring at the same time. She wasn't actually promising anything, but the thought of someone having his back that wasn't being paid or ordered to do so was foreign to him.

"Fortunately 'talking' is one of my strengths. Let us hope he is convinced enough not to start shooting at us. Getting off this mud pit will be nearly impossible with his clan chasing us."

They made their way down to the main wooden pathway with Hux making a show of yanking his charge in tow. The main building was built behind a swampy moat and Rey could sense a number of large creatures lurking beneath them. At the entrance, to their horror, were two stakes sporting skulls in competing stages of rot. Neither recognized the species but it was nonetheless an effective intimidation strategy. Rey sensed her companion's apprehension spike before he reeled it in with an iron tether. Good, she thought. He needed his nerves under control and his wits about him. She hoped the whole plan was not a failure and Dorba did not immediately order them executed. If they had to escape together, the clan would likely pursue them through an endless string of bounty hunters. 

A guard spoke to them through a barred opening in the heavy wooden doors. Hux announced himself by name, and referred to her as a gift for 'the exalted one'. After some delay they were allowed inside a wide stone hallway lit by torchlight. The guard, a humanoid reptilian species, had been joined by another. She knew they were of Nal Hutta but not if they were Force resistant. They both wielded spear-like weapons with a charged end. They began to frisk the guests roughly and Rey took a chance.

"We have no weapons. You will now take us

to Dorba," she intoned with a subtle wave.

After a pause and Hux's heart lodged in his throat, both guards obediently parroted back her suggestion. His blaster had been easily palpable under the black tunic he wore. He felt much more likely to survive with it on his person. 

The Hutt of the hour was seated before a massive table in the great room doing one of the last things neither Rey nor Armitage Hux ever wanted to watch a Hutt do - eat.

Dorba in all his splendor ripped flesh from a roasted animal carcass so forcefully that greasy spatters of meat completed the short arc to the floor. There were guards and servants in all corners of the room facing the new arrivals. The torches were plentiful and burned a bright but erie green flame.

There was no bacchanal in progress, as the ruling Hutts' reputations had led Rey to expect. No dancing slaves or bands. There was a sole musician seated against the left wall strumming softly on a stringed instrument. 

Hux led Rey to the center of the chamber with all of the bravado he could muster. He may not be a general anymore, but at one time he commanded an army of a hundred thousand. Whole systems had feared his name. He drew on the memory of his legacy, however brief it had been, to assert himself as someone a dreaded crime lord could respect.

"Great Dorba. I am honored to be welcomed in your impressive fortress," he opened.

The Hutt paused from his buffet to lick his fingers loudly. Hux's stomach turned but he kept a neutral expression. "If I did not know better, I could say I have seen a ghost, general," he began slowly in Huttese. "Or is it now Armitage?"

"Hux will do, if it pleases Dorba. You are of a select few that know of my survival. Hopefully that will make my endeavors with your clan easier to accomplish," he added smoothly. "But before business, I would like to present a gift...my prisoner... Rey, the last known Jedi."

The answering  _ hmmm _ ... that resulted was long and gravelly. Dorba lumbered from behind the table and to the edge of the platform to consider Rey. She fixed him with her best disgruntled prisoner glare. "Many years ago an uncle of mine was slain by a Jedi and his band of smugglers. There was a great battle at his palace on Tatooine. The Jedi are not easily subdued." Dorba paused, his large eyes now on Hux. "Tell me, how have you alone managed to capture her?"

Prepared for this inquiry, he answered, "The First Order had been secretly investigating Force suppression technology for some time. I managed to escape with this collar, who's kyber crystals have been modified to act as a dampener. See," he shoved Rey with his boot, praying he did not regret this later, "perfectly harmless."

Dorba chuckled deeply as she landed on all fours before him. Hidden, Rey rolled her eyes. If they could just wrap up this humiliating exchange she could get down to exploring the compound. "I see. And what of her famous Jedi weapon? The saber? It will make a nice addition to my collection."

"Destroyed while capturing her, I am afraid. She can still perform a small portion of her Jedi tricks for you," Hux offered quickly. They needed Dorba to accept her so they could move onto negotiations. "Go on, Jedi scum, show him." Again with the boot.

Rey, both annoyed and concerned thought quickly. She made a show of struggling to slide Dorba's goblet a few inches closer to him. Afterwards she "collapsed" with exhaustion.

Dorba's pleased laugh was the sound of success. "Maybe I will keep you for a few days. Then you will play with my kieth dragons in the swamp. Your end will be justice for my uncle, flawed though he was." He waved a stumpy arm at her and one of their escorts grabbed her by the forearm to drag her away.

Hux kept his gaze on his host but was acutely aware of Rey leaving him all alone to handle her portion of the mission. Fortunately for the ex-general, Dorba lit his after-dinner pipe, and whatever was in there seemed to mellow his mood even further. Keeping him talking was a non-issue. After an hour Dorba offered him a drink, which he accepted only to keep the Hutt agreeable. His precursory sip of politeness revealed it to be thick and acrid tasting. His stomach turned again. He refused to empty his stomach onto the stone floor. 

As Dorba lit his second pipe he revealed a few important details to their investigation. The reported serum effects were varied from a general feelings of extreme vitality to those claiming they could see the future. He had solicitations from buyers as far away as Corellia that he had been unable to satisfy. He understood the supply was very limited and this seemed to motivate him even more. 

"A true kingpin keeps his irons in many fires," Dorba explained. 

He tried his best to glean details about the other buyers without being too forward. On his third pipe, Dorba let slip that one owned a Corellian cruiser manufacturing yard and another owned a floating mine on Bespin. With some research, he would be able to narrow this down further. 

Eventually they came to the negotiation of price. Hux only had his dealings with his Dagorian contact to go on. He did his best to bargain hard enough to seem genuine but still leave room for Dorba to feel he had gotten the better end of the deal. And more importantly, he had gotten them three weeks time to figure out how far they were taking this operation. 

It was well into night by the time the large wooden doors of Dorba's fortress turned him out into the chilly swamp air. Once he climbed the hill to where they had stowed the speeder, he emptied the contents of his stomach onto the damp earth. A shaky breath left him with a visible puff. The scavenger had better be right about this, he thought, fighting the fear that he had made the wrong decision. 

\---

Rey waited for the traffic around her holding cell to die down before starting her exploration. She easily unlocked both her binders and the cell door with only a bit of focus. She reached out into the unknown of Dorba's fortress and could feel many workers moving about. She could sense Hux's presence, anxious but unharmed on the main level. So far so good.

She crept her way from room to room, most of which were empty cells or storage. The last room however was abuzz with activity. Peering in through the opening Rey was greeted with the sight of a dozen workers or slaves packing vials of spice into crates. Droids were lifting and transporting them out of view. This room was worth a deeper look for sure. She waited for their attention to turn before sliding into the room and behind a stack of crates. The label on these indicated a whiskey she knew to be banned in most Commonwealth worlds. Dorba was keeping a varied inventory, it seemed.

Surveying the room from her new position revealed a few doors on the perimeter. The one nearest her was ajar. Using both her eyes and her senses to detect the right moment, she crawled to the back wall and slipped into the first door. The feeling of a dread and sadness in this room was unexpected. It was dark but she could make out shelves and some equipment on the floor with tubing collecting dust. She lit her saber to have a better look. There was a raised table in the center of the room with empty binders bolted to it. She placed her hand on the cold metal surface and visions of fear and pain exploded behind her eyes. There had been someone here. A child. Her saber illuminated a few wispy strands of dark green hair.

Rey's blood began to boil. Kidnapping, slavery, even drugs were not against any laws in Hutt territories. But this child was from Dagomir 3 and like all former Republic, now Commonwealth, planets these were serious crimes. She breathed in and out slowly to calm her anger and searched with her senses as best she could. No trace of this child. She put away the saber and began her stealth journey back through the crates and out to her holding cell. She slipped back inside as a guard rounded the corner. Fortunately, he was the same reptilian species from the main floor.

"There was a child being held here. You wish to tell me where they are."

Shiny black eyes met hers dazedly. "No child here."

"A Dagorian...green skin and hair," she clarified 

"Dagorian died days ago. Fed body to kieth."

"Tell me why they were being kept here?"

"Boss try to make drug. Boss fail."

Boss kidnapped and murdered an innocent child, she thought darkly. Before she released her hold he did confirm that there were no others and that was encouraging. She needed to make her way out and see what Hux might have discovered. 

\---

After an hour waiting at their designated rendez vous, Hux was full on pacing. His quickened breaths came in dense puffs in the night air. She was a Jedi…the last, in fact. She had faced much worse than the Hutts and their minions. She would be along directly….unless something had gone awry. The collar was ingenious so long as no one actually inspected it too closely. That level of observation would be extraordinary for the sort of hired muscle working for Dorba. 

She had looked so small being led away by Dorba's hulking security. Handing the chain over felt absurdly worrisome. But she had firmly agreed this was the best way to acquire intel and evidence from within. He had done his part and she would do hers.

He squinted down at the main entrance of the compound hoping to see some sort of movement. There was none. The waters of the moat rippled occasionally with whatever swamp beasts Dorba doted upon. 

Her part was foolishly risky. He was sure of that now. How long was fair to wait before taking off for the ship? They actually had not discussed it. Was this a test or was she actually choosing to trust him? He wasn't so sure  _ he _ would trust him. It was a nice ship and now he had an actual agreement with a Hutt for brokerage and transport of the K-serum. How bad would it be if she didn't make it out and he defaulted to his original plans for seedy criminal income?

This time his gut twisted for a different reason. He wasn't sure why, but it felt like the wrong move to double cross Rey. In fact, a growing part of him was entertaining the idea of sneaking back down to the compound to see what the hold up was. The swamp rippled again and he squashed that thought. He had his fill of awful mud creatures to last him for some time. 

He was trying to convince himself that concern for Rey's whereabouts was simply an extension of concern for his own involvement in their quest when he felt a nudge on the edge of his consciousness. Like a gentle push from a house cat, he could feel Rey's request for permission. He released a breath that he did not realize he had been holding and tried to relax his mind. 

I cannot believe I am allowing this, he thought as the sound of her voice filled all corners of his head. 

_ Hux, heading out now. Please be at the meeting place. _

And it was gone, like a whisper. He was alert and ready when he finally saw her exciting the rear of the compound. She hopped from post to post on the railing and flipped gracefully over the moat onto the hill. Show-off, he thought wryly, as she landed silently and made it up to where Hux waited with the speeder. The relief on both of their faces was genuine.

"They may discover I'm gone any minute. Let's get back to the ship," she declared, slipping behind him onto the speeder. That she raised no argument this time did not go unnoticed. The minute he felt both of her arms link above his waist he took off in the direction of their ship.

  
  
  



	7. Chapter 7

Getting away from Nal Hutta and to a good location to lie low for a few hours was their immediate priority. Rey navigated them through a harrowing asteroid field off the trade routes to a large moon in the expansion region. When they were safely in a holding position, she killed the engines while they both scanned radio frequencies for any mention of pursuit. If Dorba suspected Hux at all in her escape he would have sent someone after them both. 

After over an hour they weren't picking up anything unusual. She removed her headset and released a tense sigh. "I need a shower," she announced. The fortress had left both an olfactory and mental residue on Rey that she desperately needed to scrub clean. "Don't let anything hit us, alright?"

"I think I can manage," he answered, eyes still on the stars. Hux was no ace pilot. He could get around effectively in most common ship variations but defensive maneuvers and asteroid fields were out of his skill range. The more time he spent with this Jedi woman the more he wondered at her list of talents. The vision of her lithe body vaulting supernaturally over the swamp on Nal Hutta resurfaced. Did she _really_ need him on this quest? 

He took out his data pad and began to draft a process matrix for their investigation. He listed everything he had learned so far about the serum and possible players based on Dorba's clues. He made note of their three week timeline and suggested action items. Feeling inadequate had always driven Hux to throw himself into work. Growing up in an environment where his very existence had been inadequate had led him to overcompensate in some productive ways.

Rey emerged, dressed in her dessert whites and looking slightly less haunted. They exchanged what they had both learned as she arranged their usual meal. 

"Lando mentioned he used to live on one of those floating mines. I could reach out and see if he's seen or heard anything."

"Lando?" he inquired.

She explained meeting the long-time friend of Han and Chewbacca during the war. He had come through when they needed him most. Hux considered this and what their plan should be once they narrowed down these buyers. 

"If you are planning to involve intergalactic law in this whole charade there is something you should consider," he began. "The Hutts, directly, are untouchable...you know this. But inhabitants of your precious Commonwealth worlds are fair game. We will need proof of their illicit dealings with the Hutts on their own worlds to build a case."

Rey had thought of this. She wanted evidence that Poe could use to strip offenders of their power and influence. Force-extracted confessions would not be enough. "I agree. We need to catch them in the act."

"Yes. And to 'catch them' we need a transaction to take place." Rey appeared to mull this over...he waited for the small forehead line to form. He was not disappointed.

"We need to let them buy it from Dorba."

"Exactly. We will need to actually smuggle this drug or some really authentic decoy to Dorba so that he can make his sales and document the exchange. Holovid of those involved should be enough to get some assets seized in the very least."

"We would have to ask the Dagorian government for the drugs they have seized."

"That...or a good fake. They may be more amenable to that if it stops the kidnappings."

Rey was pleasantly surprised by how much thought Hux was putting into their investigation of is own volition. She had expected his begrudging cooperation at best when she asked him to join her. "I will reach out to Lando. If we get some leads...and the coast is clear, we can follow them up on Bespin and actually pen down a name. "

Hux agreed. She went to the console and sent her message. She also sent one to Poe to update him and see if he could transfer credits. They were going to need resources to see this through and she needed to keep Hux invested. He was, thus far, proving his worth consistently. She went to the cargo area to meditate on all they had learned and sort through the dark emotions her discovery on Nal Hutta had evoked.

\---

The ex-general reclined in the co-pilot's chair for hours while Rey conducted her Jedi sorcery in the cargo area. He researched all he could on Corellian ship builders to see if anything stood out. He ended up dozing off awkwardly in the narrow chair...dreaming of swamps and dozens of hands trying to pull him beneath the black water. 

He woke with a violent jerking movement when the warm feeling of an actual hand squeezed his left shoulder. He craned his neck to be met by Rey's sheepish expression. "What is it?" He asked groggily.

"I came to save you."

"From what?" He looked suddenly more awake.

"This chair. You are not going to like what it does to your back if you sleep here. I should know," she reminded him. 

He sat up straight, acutely aware of the knot forming in his 30+ year-old neck. How had she spent two nights in this chair? "Thank you," he mumbled, squeezing the bridge of his nose. 

"I'll share the cot with you. There's room enough," she offered. His flustered response was charmingly genuine. 

"That...no. That won't be necessary. You...ought to have it really, it's your ship." She eyed him dubiously.

"As I said... there's room, if you intend to be a gentleman." She turned away as he began to blush to the roots of his hair. "Up to you," she called over her shoulder.

If I intend…. What sort of low-class brute did she suppose he was? Besides, he had no desire to be run through with her blasted lightsaber. He eyed the now empty hallway behind the command chairs. He would certainly prefer the cot to the chair. A few solid hours of sleep would do him some good after the rather active day they'd had. He tossed his datapad onto his seat and followed Rey's lead.

She was curled up on her left side with her back to Hux when he finally joined her. She had left half of the padding vacant for him and did not move when he laid down woodenly beside her. He stared at the ceiling in the dimly lit quarters, trying to relax and failing miserably. Strangely, he had been unable to stay awake at the console.

Rey felt the air shift and the creak of the cot frame when Hux decided to take her up on her suggestion. Her earlier meditation had done a lot to sort through her emotions and calm the anger simmering under her skin. She no longer segregated these feelings into classes of light and dark. They were just feelings and it was ok to acknowledge them without being consumed by it. 

She lay in the calmness of her own mind hyper-aware that on her periphery, Hux was hemorrhaging anxiety. Did he _ever_ relax? Come to think of it, she had never met any one wound as tightly as the former general. She was desperate to know what manic thoughts were buzzing around beneath his coppery fringe. But Rey knew better than to go sniffing around. He spooked so easily. She did her best to ignore it and prayed he found some peace before he drove her nuts. 

Rey was beginning to feel the edges of sleep when Hux's quiet tenor broke the silence. "The way you spoke to me earlier…could I have done the same? Answered back, I mean."

It took her some time to understand what he was referring to. To her knowledge, Hux was not Force-sensitive, but he should be able to answer within his own mind. She had only really experienced mutual Force-speak with others who were Force-sensitive. She was decidedly unaware of all the rules that might apply here.

"I believe so," she answered honestly. She hesitated, still facing away from her companion. "Would you...like to try it?" 

He was silent for several long seconds. "Yes," he decided softly. Surprised by this new curiosity, Rey rolled over to face him. He remained on his back, eyes fixed on the grey ceiling panels, but he could feel her studying him in the dark.

"Okay." She reached out as before, gently, to announce herself. A nudge and then she felt his walls lowering with some trepidation.

_"Can you hear me?"_ she thought to him _. "Just think your answer...I should be able to understand."_

At first there was no answer… Just a muddled cloud of his feelings... apprehension and growing intrigue. Then his voice, less crisp than its audible counterpart, more echoey. _"Yes. I can hear you."_

_"There. You're a natural,"_ she joked lightly. But she wasn't sensing any reciprocal amusement on his part. 

_"What else are you seeing? Everything I am thinking?"_ His suspicious tone came through loud and clear.

_"Not at the moment. We are only speaking. I won't go any further than speech… If you don't want to,"_ she assured him. He was quiet then as if weighing the validity of her words. 

_"If I wanted to show you something, how would that work?"_

_"It's like speaking, I think, but a little trickier to control. It's...deeper somehow. Maybe try something basic."_ She thought for a few seconds, _"Show me your favorite color."_

Instantly he wanted to be good at this. Like somehow she would be disappointed in him if he didn't have this… whatever it was... perfected immediately. He tried his best to focus on an image, a memory of an evening sky from his youth. He had remembered it because there were so many cloudy days on Arkanis. And one evening it cleared completely just as the sun had set. The sky had been the richest indigo blue he had ever seen.

_"Dark blue,"_ she confirmed. Somehow, he could _feel_ the smile in her words. How peculiar, he thought. _"What's...peculiar?"_

_"You heard that? Of course you did."_ She hmmm'd an affirmative.. _"It's peculiar that I can feel your reactions to things...in my own head."_

_"And I can feel yours. My turn,"_ she decided, and just like that it was a game of sorts. _"My favorite color…"_ she began and an image of a Dagorian woman filled his head. She was dressed head to toe in a flowing deep pink festival dress.

_"...is pink."_

_"Yes."_ Yet another thing that had been largely absent on Jakku, along with richly dyed anything to be honest. 

She was silent now, waiting. He could feel gentle waves of amusement and genuine curiosity about him projecting from her. She wanted to know more but would not demand it from him. So very different from Snoke and Ren's treatment of his personal thoughts. They had scrolled through his mind like the pages of a tabloid whenever it suited them. With her calm presence lingering patiently he felt oddly in control. 

_"My favorite food,"_ he began. He conjured up the clearest image that he could of a fondue fountain. Her confusion was immediately felt.

_"Is it...mud?"_

His laughter, genuine, was accompanied by surprise. _"It is called chocolate."_ He should have suspected a scavenger that grew up on a barren Rim planet might not have had the opportunity to taste such a delicacy. He felt the briefest wave of shame and realized it was not his own. _"My apologies. It is sweet...you would probably like it."_

She answered with a image of her own.A platter blossomed into view with a plethora of chopped fruits. He recognized the orange melon she seemed to always have on hand. Before he could name it he felt her retreat completely from his mind like a redounded wave.

"I really should get some sleep," she explained, not unkindly, as she returned to her original position away from the redhead. "But thanks….for the talk. It was nice." 

He didn't answer. He felt he had offended her, and not on purpose this time. For once he fully began to consider the Jedi as a young woman with feelings of her own. He turned ever so slightly to a view of her curled up form. She had traded the hair knots for a single low ponytail that spilled onto the cot between them. She looked small and vulnerable, a vision at odds with the warrior woman that had left a permanent scar on the late Kylo Ren's moody face. He wondered if perhaps growing up alone and hungry on a desert planet was worse than growing up in an opulent household full of adults that hated you. He had always known the details of his birth were not something he had the power to change, but his father and step-mother routinely ignored this in favor of antagonizing him. His bastard status fueled every bully and competitor in his life until the day they'd migrated out of the system and began to build the First Order. 

Snoke's investment and promise of universal power and order had been the only positives in his life at the time. The Sith had been a master at using the insecurities of his pawns for personal gain. Snoke had never cared for him, he realized now. He had cared only for power and his volatile apprentice. When Ren took over and began his irrational pursuit of the girl from Jakku, he knew he had made a mistake. 

Her breathing had grown heavier with sleep. He watched the subtle rise and fall of her shoulder pensively. He did not know what Ren had seen in her to morph himself into a man-obsessed. But he could admit, without it reflecting poorly on his taste or judgement, that she possessed some extraordinary abilities and displayed no desire to exploit them for personal gain. This was _despite_ her past hardships. His thoughts soon carried him into a well-earned slumber. 


	8. Chapter 8

Rey sat at the console with a mug of tea, _real_ tea as opposed to the engine de-greaser Hux apparently drank. She read through her messages from both Poe and Lando. Lando had been very interested in the work she was doing and suggested a particular tibanna gas tycoon that was known locally as an underground cartel. Apparently, almost all drug and contraband trafficking on Bespin had his fingerprints on it. Poe's message had been a resounding 'yes' to the credits and assurances that whatever she needed he would be on standby for. She had asked for a reasonable amount and transferred half to Hux using his abandoned datapad on the co-pilot's chair. 

Rey sipped her tea with a weighted sigh. Hux had still been asleep when she slid off the cot after only a few hours of sleep. She examined the small comfort she took in the companionship his presence provided. Yes, she had been lonely since the end of the war. She had meditated on that at length recently. The passing of Ben, Leia, even Luke had happened all in a year effectively robbing her of mentors and a potential friendship in the force.

It had taken her months to come to terms with this. She spent nearly her whole life alone on Jakku and then Finn showed up and she had _people._ She was suddenly a part of something enormous that came to an end that fateful day on Exegol. Talking with Hux the night before had been the first time since Ben's death that she had explored the possibilities of the Force with another person. She had been so pleasantly nonplussed by a Hux that was curious about the Force instead of fearful and disgusted that she took full advantage of his pillow-side questions.

She heard him shuffling around in the back en route to the fresher. Rey realized she had previously held a one dimensional view of the ex-general based on his war time maneuvers and planet-cide. In a world without Snoke and the Sith, what might have been different for them all? Ben might have never turned, Hux might never have crafted star destroyers, she might have grown up knowing her parents and whatever chocolate was. 

She breathed deep and willed her distressing thoughts away and into the Force. None of that mattered now. Balance had been restored in the end. Rey needed to focus on K-serum and effectively eliminating the market. 

"I see we haven't been blown out of the region. Anything on the comm frequencies?" Hux leaned in the doorway to the command cabin with his own mug of tea. 

"Not a peep," she reported, observing the bob of his adam's apple as he swallowed. "There was a response from Lando. We have a name to research on Bespin. Some tycoon called Sirad Jogo."

"Sirad…" he repeated thoughtfully. He had met the man once. "Yes. I have had dealings with him early in...our ascension."

She did not miss the regretful tone. Reminders of First Order failure were obviously still unpleasant for him. "Was he an ally?"

"He was a supporter. We insured it much in the way we insured the support of other planets and colonies."

"Brute force?"

"Something like that. It helped that Sirad had an interest in the finer pleasures in life, indiscriminate of their legality. He agreed to heavier First Order taxes on his mine to continue his lifestyle unmolested."

He certainly fit the bill and Bespin, as of this year, was a Galactic Commonwealth planet. 

She could feel this was the right direction. Now they needed the Corellian ship manufacturer and some cooperation from the Dagorians. 

"We should get back to Dagomir 3 and at least guarantee we have something to put into transit," she suggested, squeezing past his tall frame to leave the cabin. He raised his mug to avoid it sloshing, not nearly as annoyed as he should have been. He grabbed his datapad and followed the sounds of her opening a wall panel just outside the mess area. "We will save a lot of time using a light speed jump. Just checking a few things…." she explained absently. 

He sat at the table and found himself watching her slender profile as she studied the readings flickering on the fuse deck. The sinewy muscles in her calves created shapely valleys as she perched on tip-toe to reach the top row of switches. Her flat stomach pressed the wall in front of her. He forced himself to focus on the datapad, abruptly uncomfortable with his own observations. Of course she was in shape. No big deal. He began to update his planning matrix and noticed an indicator for recent credit transfer. It was a decent amount.

"Where did these funds come from?" 

She spared him a glance, continuing her inspection. "Poe. I updated him and put in a request. We will need some flexibility and contingency funds. That's your share."

"I see." But he did not. He had not asked for money, only expecting compensation when they had completed this foolhardy mission. There was enough there to repair his ship if he did it on the cheap. 

"Good to go." 

They set an expedited course back for the jungle planet. It took less than half the time using lightspeed but Rey knew what a burn on the engines it was. She was fortunate to be gifted in engineering. It was early in the day planet-time when she dropped Hux close to his ship. 

"When I get an audience with their local command I will comm you. Hopefully they take us seriously," she promised.

"Three weeks," he reminded her. He had no intention of finding out what Dorba might try if they did not make this deadline. 

The ship was largely as Hux had left it, save for a few nests now situated in the engine exhaust bays. He busied himself over the next few days sourcing some parts. He had been very frugal and managed to restart repairs right away. By the end of the first week he had made some important observations about himself: he was not a gifted mechanic by any stretch….and he somewhat, _maybe_ , missed the company. Being alone with his disgruntled thoughts seemed to dredge up old insecurities and unpleasant memories in droves. The war had ended over a year ago and the feelings of failure and shame came in waves while he struggled to reconnect the hyperdrive. 

How many deaths had he been responsible for? How much had he invested of his own soul to reach his goal of universal world order only to end up here...under the floor of a stolen transporter covered in dust? Perhaps he should have died on the _Steadfast_. What good was being both a survivor and a career failure with nothing to show for all of his years of work? 

He stopped trying to connect the gaskets in his hands, suddenly exhausted. Even if he could get this vessel running, where would he go in it? A year in the shadows had revealed the galaxy was very short on motivated First Order sympathizers. It was the result of having muscled and terrified worlds into cooperation. The First Order was not particularly missed. Without Rey's quest, he was nobody now...not even a great smuggler. She was more than capable of fighting crime well on her own as the Jedi of olde had done generations ago. She could probably reboot the entire hoaksome religion if she tried. 

Something chimed in the distance. He reluctantly climbed out of the engine compartment and to his comlink.

"They're in," Rey's excited voice rang through like a wind chime. He didn't even try to fight the wave of relief this elicited 

"They are giving us the serum?"

"They are working on fabricating something that we can use. They were hesitant at first. But the kidnappings have most citizens spooked. They are motivated to put a stop to it and quietly."

"How long before they can get it to us?"

"A few days...perhaps a week. I told them we have a deadline."

"I see." There was some silence on both ends. Before Rey chimed in once more.

"I suppose I can reach out to you again when they deliver. Thank you...Hux. This was a clever idea."

"Wait," he interjected before she could end the call. 

"...Yes?"

"Are you….I don't suppose you're familiar with hyperdrives?"

"Maybe a bit…."

He explained his current predicament.

"I will be right there," she declared and ended the connection. 

Hux had always been able to swallow his pride to get things done. It was perhaps the sole quality that kept him alive under both Snoke and Kylo's rein. He did not like asking the Jedi woman for help, but he knew she stood a much greater chance of digging him out of his repair holes than he did at this rate. The afternoon sun poured in from the open ramp, illuminating the chestnut flyaways framing Rey's flushed face when she arrived. 

"Did you empty _all_ of the fluid lines before you started?" She began, marching up the ramp and following the ex-general to his engine compartment. 

"Of course," he sighed.

She dropped a sack of tools to the floor and disappeared into the hatch. A melon rolled out of the bag and rested at his feet. This woman and her fruits, he thought, the amusement eliciting an involuntary smirk. 

"What about the gas ones?"

He paused. There were air lines as well? She read his silence as a negative and asked him to pass her some tools. "They maintain pressure even with the engine shut," she explained. "This is definitely the problem."

She clinked and clanked wordlessly for some time before she poked her head up. "I bled the first few but you should see how it's done so that you can finish," she suggested. 

He nodded, expecting her to leave the cramped engine compartment but she disappeared with an encouraging "C'mon."

He hesitated. It was very narrow down there. 

"Hux. Come fix your ship!" She called. 

Fine, he thought. He climbed down and joined her in the narrow through-way. It branched in two directions and he joined her where a row of metal piping terminated overhead. She handed him a clamping tool and gave him just enough room to slide in facing her. 

"You attach it here…." She showed him and he followed her lead. He was painfully aware of how close they were as he torqued a valve open. He could smell her familiar scents…wet vegetation and whatever soap she used. He tried to focus on the pipes. Her chest brushed his as she reached up to grab a falling cap. She eyed him with a half smile that he swore he felt in his gut. "You _don't_ want to lose these."

He nodded, suddenly not trusting his voice. He opened the remaining pipes and the pressure audibly dropped to zero. She bent down, brushing against his entire front to grab the abandoned gaskets at their feet, unaware that Hux was holding his breath. There was entirely too much contact for his overstimulated skin to process. She handed him the gaskets. "Now we're ready for these," she explained triumphantly.

Her fingers brushed his as he took the gaskets and he tried to get them back on the hyperdrive. He wished his hands would stop trembling like a blasted intern. If she noticed how unusually long it was taking she didn't say anything. Eventually he got them on, and the hyperdrive reconnected. "If this is all you needed, we can now go to the console and get it primed."

"Yes, this was...all I needed." 

She leaned over again to start collecting the remaining tools on the floor and he interrupted. "Leave it...I'll bring them up." 

"It's alright…" she assured him until he stilled her with firm hands on both of her shoulders. 

"Woman, you have done plenty. I will grab the tools," he ground out.

Her brow crease made a quick cameo in reaction to his tone. His control issues chose the strangest times to flare up, she thought. There was color on his cheeks as he slowly released her shoulders. "Fine. No stealing, though. I need all of them back," she warned on her way back up the hatch. 

He watched her disappear and took his sweet time collecting her tools. He needed a moment to steady his breathing. He had always been a man of great control. Hux blamed this lapse on the woeful lack of female interaction over the years. He had not entertained partners while commanding the First Order army, or for some time prior. There was no time for that while running a galaxy and not worth the distraction. This was simply an involuntary reaction to spending so much time in close proximity. Nothing more.

She was leaning over his console when he did emerge. "Looks like you are good to go here."

"That is excellent. Thank you," he added curtly.

Rey could not be more pleased by a gracious Armitage Hux. "Now to discuss my price. A mechanic that makes house calls is hard to come by."

He raised a brow at her cheek. "Negotiations _after_ services are rendered are failed negotiations."

"Why is that?"

"You've lost your leverage," he explained using the same predatory look he played Dejarik with. This time it made her chest feel warm. 

"I see. Well I only meant to point out I've been aboard this vessel twice now and you have not shown me around," she replied, crossing her arms.

Well if that was all she wanted, he hoped she was prepared to be underwhelmed. He wasn't exactly proud of his stolen method of transportation. He turned on heel wordlessly and headed to fulfill her request. "It's a transport vessel so...most of it is cargo space," he gestured widely to the first open room. There were retractable safety seats lining all walls. "Mess area…" he indicated once they were on the other end of the cargo bay. It was larger than on Rey's ship with several tables bolted down. "Sleeping and fresher," he ended with gesturing to both sides of a narrow hall." Both of these were larger as well with two shelves of bunked cots against two of the walls. 

She recalled he had been getting by as a smuggler when she found him that day at the festival. She suddenly wondered at his cargo. 

"Have you... transported anyone?" She couldn't stop herself from asking. 

"Besides myself?"

"Yes. As cargo."

He frowned at this, realizing she meant slaves. He turned away, effectively ending the tour. "No, I have not. No, I had not planned on it, either." For some reason, it irked him that she thought he might be selling people. Yes, his history regarding his consideration of human life was dubious but that had been in war. He thought she had begun to make this distinction. He was clearly mistaken. 

She followed him back to the entrance, realizing her question had soured his mood. She couldn't help asking...as if suddenly she needed to know more about his character. Where was the line for Hux in a world where no one expected anything from him?

She grabbed her bag of tools, noting the sun's descent. "Thank you for the tour, Hux. It's a good ship. I'll be calling as soon as I have word on the serum."

She jogged off into the diminishing daylight. 


	9. Chapter 9

  
  


In the end, Poe had come through with information on the Corellian K-serum buyer. He had pulled a string or two from his smuggler's past and gotten the skinny on an heiress to a ship manufacturing fortune who had a thing for contraband. Rey read through his message twice, overjoyed that they were quickly making progress. She did feel bad that she had not yet disclosed who her partner was on the investigation, but somehow she knew he would understand. She needed to vet Hux on her own. 

By the end of the second week she got a call from the Dagorian government that the drug decoys were ready. She comm'd Hux with mild trepidation. His mood had been strange when she had stopped by his ship the previous week. She suspected he was considering bailing on her after his ship was up and running. She hoped that he didn't. 

His cultured voice on the other end was a relief. He agreed to meet at her ship the very next day after she secured their goods. She tried to pretend to herself that she wasn't immensely pleased he was committed. There was something about his agreeing to help bring down these cartels of his own volition that warmed Rey. 

She waited aboard her cruiser with the crates she had been entrusted with by the Dagorian government. They contained identical vials of a golden liquid that they ensured her mildly mimicked the effects of the original hormone. She felt Hux approach before she heard him come up the ramp. 

She appraised him as he deposited his backpack on the floor much the way he did the first time he had been on her ship. His face had lost most the gauntness it previously had, Rey noticed. He wore a fresh charcoal grey shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. He looked healthier and decidedly pleasing to the eye. Rey looked away as if her face might betray her thoughts. 

"I will contact Dorba's liaison once we are within the system. He is going to be thrilled we are coming back early," Hux remarked, observing the pink tinge to Rey's cheeks and attributing it to the heat outside. 

"Yes. I hope he takes the bait. Everything is counting on it."

They set the same course as before, but there was considerably less tension in the cabin this time. Rey was looking forward to completing their task together and Hux appeared more or less motivated to do the same. 

At the end of the first cycle Rey found Hux in the co-pilot's seat fussing over his datapad. She peered over his shoulder. "What are you always tapping away at in there?"

"Notes," he answered without elaborating. She leaned over him to take a look and he stilled. Did she have no respect for his personal space?

"What is that? This diagram?"

Her face was so close to his that her flyaways tickled at his temples. He cleared his throat. "It's an organizational model. I use it to keep my research and planning orderly," he explained. 

She hmmm'd thoughtfully and her warm breath danced down his neck. And suddenly he was talking. A lot. Explaining the various tiers of information and what he had added in from his back-channel research. There were known spice sellers working for their target cartels whom they might as well assume were being set up to start K-serum distribution. He had itemized their names and aliases and known drug runners using the trade routes to Nal Hutta.

She was impressed by the level of detail he was adding to this. This would go a long way in presenting their work on Coruscant. 

"Hux. This is…. this is brilliant," she squeezed his shoulder enthusiastically. "We have to show Poe and the council when it's all said and done."

He felt himself flush at her praise. There was no irony or sarcasm in her words. "It's just basic project planning…." 

"It's the sort of thing we need," she assured him a before leaving him to his work.

When he dozed off beside her later, he couldn't stop feeling where her warm hand had squeezed him. 

\---

It was very early when Hux woke. He had always been an early riser, all owing to his past military lifestyle. This time, however, it may have been because at some point Rey had moved closer to him in her sleep and his wrist had ended up beneath her torso. He couldn't even feel his fingers. 

Splendid, he thought, watching her slumber obliviously. After a few seconds consideration, he gently placed the other hand on her waist and began to slowly apply pressure. He noticed how his long fingers enveloped so much of the narrow space above her hips. She made a muffled sleepy sound into her arm and he paused before slowly continuing to try to free his hand.

"What are you doing?" Her voice startled him.

"My hand," he breathed out with exasperation. "I am trying to save my hand."

"Oh…" She rolled off of the trapped appendage with a sheepish grin. He began massaging the newly liberated hand vigorously. He winced at the pins and needles. "Is it going to be alright?" She yawned widely.

"I don't think I'll need to amputate, no thanks to you," he muttered.

She laughed freely and sat up. "I've never actually shared a bed with anyone. My manners might not be up to your standards."

His brain skidded sideways over this. She probably had not intended for him to read between any lines, given the personal nature of her admission. But all he heard was that she had never had a romantic partner. He had just assumed… She was a young, fit, unattached woman. Surely she had opportunities.

His silence must have betrayed his thoughts because she cleared her throat suddenly in a rare display of discomfort. "I'll make the tea… And check our course," she announced as she slid off the cot and out into the ship proper. 

***

They made excellent time back to Nal Hutta. Hux steeled himself in preparation to make the exchange. He would be going in alone this time. Rey did her best to reassure him yet again.

"There's no tricky negotiations this time, so it should be a quick delivery and payment. We'll be out of the muck in no time." 

"One never knows with these Hutts. They aren't exactly known for being honorable businessmen," he replied with no small amount of pessimism.

She followed him down to the same hill he waited on for her to escape just weeks before. "I will be right here keeping tabs."

"Yes, nice and safe while I go back into the Wampa's den." She rolled her eyes, accepting the blaster he handed her. "Any chance you can work your sorcery from this distance? I'd much rather have this on my person."

"Not from out here. If I sense you are in trouble, I am coming inside. Just relax. It likely won't come to that," she assured him one more time. 

"Whatever," he conceded and began to push the hover-dolly of crates down to the central walkway. He noticed there were several more heads adorning the walkway than last time. Reptilian heads. He sorely hoped whatever mood had prompted their demise had long passed.

Rey lay on her stomach observing the compound for over an hour. She kept her senses trained on Hux and the surrounding entities. He seemed apprehensive, nothing new there. She wouldn't risk reading Dorba and potentially tipping him off. What was taking so long? After a few more minutes she pushed her concentration and gave Hux a mental tap. He let her in immediately.

_ "Is he inspecting the drug? What's going on?" _

_ "No problem with the drug. But he is…. displeased." _

_ "With what?"  _

There was a pause...he was speaking to Dorba. Then,  _ "Your escape." _

_ "What does he want you to do?" _

_ "They're taking me outside," _ now sounding more panicked.

After a minute or two some guards and then Hux appeared in back of the compound. Dorba lumbered behind and barked something in Huttese. 

_ "The kieth dragons" _ , she thought with a groan. 

_ "He wants me to fight them in your place. DO something, Rey!" _

_ "Hang on…" _

Almost all of the guards and their spear weapons were clustered on a bridge preparing to push Hux in. The waters stirred with activity. She reached for the bridge, tugging on the support logs. Two gave way, tossing almost everyone into the water below. She kept Hux on the safe end while the moat became a downright frenzy. The guards were all trying to climb out and jab at the beasts. Dorba bellowed angrily from his vantage point for more guards to come help. 

A horny spine breeched the water and pulled a guard beneath. She Force-aided Hux up the collapsed structure and across the moat, mostly unnoticed in the chaos. She scooted back from the hill and took off toward their ship docked low in the surrounding grasslands. Hux arrived, out of breath and flushed from collar to forehead.

"Get us off the  _ hell _ off his mud pit," he demanded as the ramp closed behind them.

"You got it," she agreed, launching them into atmosphere. She pushed lightspeed to make sure they were not being pursued then set a course for Bespin. 

Hux leaned back in the co-pilot's seat and massaged his temples. "I am  _ never _ returning to that disgusting planet."

She turned to him, beaming. "You did great. He has the decoys. We just have to get into position and wait."

He peered into her smiling face and wondered at her persistent positive outlook. "Is there any alcohol on this ship? I need a damned drink," he muttered heading for the mess area.

"I don't drink. There's tea, caf, and water I'm afraid."

Of course there wasn't. He sat down with a sigh. She joined him with that mischievous half-smirk that quickened his pulse. "I do have Dejarik. Humor me with a re-match?"

He raised a single brow.. nodding his consent. With the mood he was in she was going to be very sorry that she asked. The game went on for some time with fairly even results. He could feel her observing him, perhaps more than was usual for her. He loosened his collar and began applying some more aggressive strategy to the board. She had grown overly confident, he suspected. 

"May I ask you something… sort of personal, that is?" she asked into the pensive silence. 

It was her move. Perhaps she realized she was going to lose once again and sought to distract him. He could humor her. His game was solid.

"What is it?"

"During the war, did you have someone?" She considered her pieces with pursed lips.

He wondered why in the world she would care to know that. It was none of her business, honestly. "I had my job. It was all-consuming, as you might have imagined," he answered cautiously. 

Her fingers hovered from one piece to the next. He watched them like a feline. "No wife? Girlfriends... boyfriends?"

He coughed abruptly. "None of the above. Now make your move." He could feel his face warming again. Her effects on him were troubling. 

She did as she was told. He studied the board of flexing game creatures. He needed to adjust his strategy, on multiple fronts. "Turnabout is fair play. What did Ren want with you so desperately?"

She looked up at him as if he had scolded her. There, see how you like meddlesome questions, he thought smugly. 

"It's….I know what he told me that he wanted," she began quietly. "I am not sure if even he really knew." Suddenly, the game was a very distant afterthought for Hux. Her forlorn expression was making him consider that he had crossed some line. "He wanted me to join him as Supreme Leader. In the end, even he abandoned that path. He helped me destroy the emperor."

He made the next move and she absently realized she was now winning. 

"Did you kill Snoke?" He just had to know.

She met his intense stare, wondering how long these questions had been simmering for him. "No. Kylo Ren killed Snoke. Snoke was going to torure me...likely kill me if I didn't turn."

"I  _ knew _ it. He was so full of shite."

"Hey. Kylo Ren was a horrible person, but  _ Ben _ …he wanted to do good. Be good," she reminisced. She felt exposed talking about this with another person after so long. "Ben traded his life for mine." She would be forever grateful. 

The way she declared this, Hux instantly knew she missed the brute. This disturbed him for reasons he couldn't articulate. He had no right to judge the late Sith apprentice. His own ledger was disastrously red. But she spoke of a man redeemed, in her eyes. His feelings of inadequacy came roaring back. He sacrificed another game piece to quickly end the game in her favor. 

"You let me win."

"I did no such thing," he lied.

Before he could even make a move to get up she reached for both of his hands and squeezed gently. "There's plenty of good left for  _ us _ to do," she encouraged. Her hazel eyes were fathomless. She released him after only a moment. "I need to meditate. You know what to do," she added with a wave toward the console. He watched her disappear more unsure of himself than ever. He eyed the now empty Dejarik board contemptuously. If it had  _ just  _ been a bottle of scotch….

  
  
  



	10. Chapter 10

The sky mines of Bespin were a unique blend of function and entertainment. The elevated saucers housed all manner of resort lodgings, lounges, shopping, and spas. In addition, the surrounding city proper was comprised of buildings of all shapes and stature against a backdrop of powder pink clouds. Hux had volunteered to go in alone once again if only to put some distance between himself and Rey and leave the confines of her small ship. He wasn't naturally claustrophobic, but his long history in space had mostly been spent on dreadnaughts and the  _ Supremacy. _ They were like cities unto themselves with thousands upon thousands of personnel and multiple decks. On Rey's unnamed vessile there wasn't a whole lot of room to stretch out or avoid the effects she was having on him.

Mainly to avoid the effects she was having on him. 

He had never cared particular for the touch of others. Growing up, touch had often been used in punishment and intimidation. Once he became general, he kept his peers at a distinct distance - no fraternizing, formal gloves at all times. Command in the First Order had been a stressful job to say the least. Relieving that stress was either achieved through paid flesh, General Pryde's persuasion...or alcohol, Hux's preferred. 

Rey's touch was decidedly different. It was warm and unassuming….not used to control or manipulate him. It lingered pleasantly. He needed to put some air between them before he did something disastrous like reciprocating it. He knew that would not be welcome, not with the wistful tone with which she recalled the infamous Kylo-Ben Solo.

Rey monitored the public port for the ship of Dorba's known traffickers while Hux determined where their quarry Sirad would conduct business. He eventually settled on a night club at the base of a mine because it was rumored to be Sirad's favourite and popular for its underground after-hours entertainment. Sirad was seen here almost nightly conducting all manner of illicit activity. 

This was the end of the second day they waited and an hour ago Rey had comm'd him that a ship had docked. She sent him a holovid for identification. Hux had disguised his appearance with a helmet knowing Sirad or others might recognize him. He took up a seat in a dark corner of the night club with a view of Sirad smoking spice and fondling the female humanoid in his lap. The loud music and smokey atmosphere would not have been his scene on a good day. Patrons all around danced in revealing clothing, ingesting questionable substances and passing spice pipes. The brazoness on this planet was unbelievable. Under First Order rule few would be so bold, with constant patrols and random searches. But none of that existed now, and the joke that was the Galactic Commonwealth clearly had not yet caught up on the enforcement aspect of running a government.

Hux was glad not to have Rey with him in this hedonistic cesspool. Rey... and all her innocent questions. 

Eventually their quarry had a visitor carrying two nondescript cases. Finally, Hux thought. His datapad captured the entire exchange, even the inspection of product. He recognized their golden decoy vials before they were promptly returned to their cases. It was a shame they wouldn't be able to hear what was being said but the holovid was damning enough. He made a careful retreat, eager to comm Rey he was on his way back.

She stood at the top of the open ramp as the high winds of the port whipped her green tunic tails about her legs. She beamed at him, knowing he had been successful. His immediate thought was that a woman as formidable as she was had no business flashing dimples. He was glad for the helmet to hide his open appreciation of her.

"What's in the bag?" she asked, noticing he was clutching something. The ramp sealed with a finite hiss. He liberated himself from the heavy helmet.

"It's a long way to Corellia. It was time this ship carried a proper bottle of scotch," he explained with authority.

She wasn't sure how she felt about this. Rey supposed it was fine so long as Hux remained functional. She had seen what booze could do to people and she was not a fan. "Let us get out of the system safely before you start tossing them back, hm?"

They navigated into space, always staying off the trade routes. It was getting late according to the ship chronometer. But Rey still put together their usual meal. Only after eating did Hux break out his prized bottle offering her a glass. Rey took one sniff of the contents and declined. 

"That does not smell pleasurable."

He laughed at this and savored the first sip. "Pleasureable might not be the correct term," he mused. "Fortifying. Galvanizing maybe...and also mollifying."

"It has made you a wordsmith," she teased. She liked seeing him this way...openly pleased by something and unreserved about showing it. 

"I was always a wordsmith." The result of an overpriced education and many afternoons spent holed away alone with a book.

She watched him swallow another sip, his lips tinged pink from the strength of the beverage. She decided as far as lips went, they were nice and full...probably soft. Her gaze drifted lazily down his neck to where the buttons on his shirt began before she caught herself staring. When she looked back up he was watching her over the glass, greenish eyes indecipherable. 

"I'm going to lay down for a few. It's been a long day," she declared. "Enjoy your scotch, Hux."

He watched her go, intrigued. It might have been the sudden onset of the alcohol...he hadn't had a proper drink in months. But it almost appeared as if she was studying him in a way that was beyond casual observation. No, he thought, definitely the booze. Hux took his glass and settled into the co-pilot's seat to watch the stars for a while. His normally frenetic mind became increasingly subdued as he finished his drink. Yes, this had been a splendid investment from his modest remaining credits.

When he finally joined Rey on the cot he noticed she did not appear to be asleep. He reclined on his side, facing her back in the dim light. He watched her for a few minutes, imagining she was troubled by something. Perhaps gathering their last bit of evidence on Corellia was on her mind, or whether or not they had done enough to make a difference, if what they had to share on Coruscant would be met with approval. Welcome to my world, he thought. Worry and doubt were some of his greatest hits. With his nerves temporarily dampened by the scotch he cleared his throat.

"Rey. I would like for you to try something."

She slowly turned towards him with narrowed eyes. "Are you drunk?"

"What? No...I've had one glass," he answered indignantly. It was a heavy pour but that was irrelevant. She studied him for a few seconds.

"Alright."

"I'll need you to close your eyes. And no witchery."

Her interest was fully peaked now. She propped her head up on her side, mirroring his pose. "Ok." She did as requested. There was rustling of paper between them and she refrained from using her senses to determine what was transpiring. When she felt something foreign against her lips she jerked back reflexively.

"It's alright. Just...try it," he encouraged in a gentler tone than she had ever heard him use. 

She parted her lips and felt his thumb gently push something smooth and cube-shaped over the threshold. 

He was transfixed by her expression waiting for her reaction. As she chewed, a soft sigh of pleasure escaped her. Her lids fluttered open. "Oh...what  _ is _ this? It's...it's.."

"It's chocolate, Rey."

The realisation caused a rolling warmth through her. He had bought her chocolate.

"Where did you get it?"

"A shop down on Bespin."

"Is there more? I've never had anything like this before," she breathed out, still surprised by the gesture.

"Of course." He had been about to slide her the remaining few morsels but she closed her eyes again and parted her lips expectantly. He hesitated only a breath before sliding a second truffle into her warm mouth. His fingers ghosted over her cheek and lingered a moment as she savored the second cube. He might have been holding his breath, he was not totally sure. But when her lashes fluttered upwards again revealing those hazel gems he felt trapped in a hamster wheel of budding arousal. 

She couldn't possibly be looking at him this way. He silently pushed the third and final cube to her lips while she fixed him with an imploring expression. Her tongue caught his thumb as it accepted it's prize and the intimacy of the moment threatened to overwhelm him. Why  _ hadn't _ he bought more chocolate? He would have done this with her indefinitely .

Rey finished her chocolate and he felt the familiar nudge in askance. He did not want to let her in just now. She would be able to see the chaos storm of confused arousal swirling about and she would be disgusted by it. But as he met her gaze he couldn't recall a time when he had actually denied her anything. She filled his mind with slippery tendrils and began to immediately share her own feelings in lieu of seeking his. He struggled to decipher the onslaught - joy, surprise, pleasure, arousal, curiosity, arousal, curiosity…

He wasn't so sure who actually moved first but he quickly closed the small gap between them and captured her mouth with his own. After a beat Rey began kissing him back with an odd mix of enthusiasm and inexperience. It was dizzying. Though immensely pleased by her ardor, Hux preferred to be in control of all aspects of his life when possible. After a minute, he pulled back slightly. Her breath came in small puffs against his face. She eyed him with the same half-smile that nearly undid him in the engine compartment. He felt a rush of excitement in that she would look at him this way. 

The next kiss he began almost painfully slow. He barely touched his own lips to hers at first. He ran his thumb over the angle of her jaw, tasting her bottom lip with his tongue. There were the faintest remnants of sugar there from the chocolate. She matched his languid pace deciding she liked this better. She felt his lips travelling her jaw in the same path his fingers had taken and sighed against his neck. 

Fueled by both the pleasant sounds she was making and the enjoyment she conveyed silently, Hux pulled her flush against him. His touch was possessive as he returned to her lips once more. All of it was new for Rey as she struggled to keep up with all of her senses. His scent swirled between them, a subtle mix of his aftershave and traces of the liquor he had consumed. His hair was incredibly soft between the fingers of her left hand. She could feel a firmness against her thighs, and she pushed into it experimentally. 

Hux's sudden intake of breath was the immediate result. He stilled abruptly, resting his lips on her shoulder. He needed to slow this down. He just breathed for several seconds and felt her questions as she quickly withdrew from his mind. 

"I'm sorry," she offered quietly. 

He chuckled into her shoulder. When he trusted his voice again he met her confused expression. "What, pray tell, in this miserable galaxy do you have to be sorry for?"

Her brows furrowed only slightly at this. He tucked some errant strands behind her ear. "I don't know. It felt like...like I ruined it somehow," she muttered. Hux didn't know what he had done to deserve any part of this moment, but he was not going to let her continue on that vein. 

"You've ruined nothing," he assured her. He landed another kiss, brief this time. "Its...I have not engaged in such activities for quite some time."  _ I'd rather not humiliate myself by soiling the front of my trousers _ he added silently to himself. 

She nodded her understanding. "We probably shouldn't rush into anything," she suggested. While the bulge that had sprung up between his thighs begged to differ, Hux nodded his agreement. He rolled onto his back, putting some distance between them. He huffed out a weighted sigh, noting that the buzz of his scotch had mostly left his system and his thoughts were reforming their busy circuit. 

Rey casually slid a finger inside the rolled cuff of his shirt, working the woven fabric between it and her thumb. Technically, she was not touching him but even the associative contact was prolonging a full cool-down. He needed a distraction. 

"Have you found other Jedi since the war?" he asked.

"Why, are you planning to hunt them down?" 

He suspected she was at least half-serious. "One Jedi is enough to deal with at any given time," he assured her.

"I have not. But...I haven't actually been searching. If there are more and I am meant to cross paths with them…we will." She said this with a sureness he knew stemmed from her Force beliefs. The only thing he had ever believed in with the same fervor was the First Order. The void of its absence in his life had set him rather adrift in the year that followed. 

“Hux, why did you go through the trouble to bring me the chocolate?” she pressed.

He barely had an answer for that himself. He had seen them in the window and remembered their silent conversation. It also seemed too good of an opportunity to rectify one small thing is this galaxy. “It was...a travesty. You had been denied something that, while I certainly enjoyed it, I took for granted.” She gently dragged the backs of her fingers down the exposed part of his arms. He willed his body to cooperate.

"It was thoughtful. I can see now why they are your favorite. Thank you." She laid down fully using the ex-general's shoulder as a pillow. "Is this ok?"

"Yes," he answered quietly. It was strangely  _ very _ ok. And then he heard himself telling her everything. He explained what his life had been like growing up in a household of derision and disappointment. He recalled loving school but hating the negative attention he often drew. Going into hiding with his father and a militia of his trained killers had been harrowing but becoming ruthless himself had helped him survive it. Like in a pack of animals, it had been the only way possible to garner respect. He hesitated before describing what it had been like meeting Snoke.

She waited patiently with a warm hand on the center of his chest, never interrupting. In his late twenties, he had met the Sith for the first time in person. He had been very probing but not as aggressive as Hux later came to learn was his true manner. He had acknowledged the mistreatment Hux had endured by his father and peers and said it had been a test of his fortitude. His real purpose was to rule a galaxy. Snoke had 'forseen it'. He showed him visions of the army and weapons they would build together. He was in awe of Snoke. For the first time he felt understood and supported.

Learning later of the emperor and his puppet-strings after years of Kylo Ren's unmitigated abuse, he had begun to doubt the entire foundation on which he had built the new regime. 

When he seemed to finish, Rey asked, "Do you regret any of it?"

That was a difficult question. Hux did not consider himself a nice or good person. Yet, the lazy patterns she was making with her finger-tips down the front of his shirt made him want to tell her whatever she wanted to hear. After a long pause he decided he owed them both honesty, in the very least.

"I regret some of what seemed necessary at the time."

"Your planet destroyers." She was not making it easy. 

"Building them? No. It was an incredible achievement." He would never in this lifetime apologize for the feeling of seeing Starkiller Base and then the individual destroyers come to fruition. "Needing to use them, perhaps, was regrettable. In the end, I wanted to preside over a unified galaxy….not a cemetery."

Rey tried to wrap her mind around this objectively. It was tough when millions had perished, but the Rebellion had amassed their own count of First Order fatalities...most of whom were troopers and stolen from their homeworlds and forced to work. She realized her hand had stopped moving on his chest when his hand closed around it.

"I am sorry if that is not what you wanted to hear. I have no desire to recreate the First Order or some variation thereof."

She let out a tense breath. She sensed no deception...no warning in the Force. He was giving her his honesty. "Alright."

Just like that her questions had quieted. For now. He knew better than to presume this wouldn't come up again. But for now, he revelled in the feel of her small frame sprawled across his chest. 


	11. Chapter 11

Rey crouched on her rooftop perch overlooking the Murain shipyard. She had a view of the receiving docks, the manufacturing lot, and the main entrance. Thanks to her well-used Force persuasion, she had knowledge of Natalie Murain's scheduled delivery from Nal Hutta. The only necessary thing she did not have in that moment was patience. She had been waiting for two hours in that very spot for the scheduled appearance of Dorba's drug runner. Her mind continuously returned to her time on the ship before they had docked on Corellia. 

She and Armitage Hux had shared a kiss and she unabashedly enjoyed it. In fact, when she awakened still nestled into his shoulder Rey fully considered initiating an encore of the previous one. That is, until he had asked and she confirmed that yes, she was indeed 'quite finished' drooling onto his shirt. 

For the record, she did not drool. 

She didn't know when she had become attracted to the ex-general but his enticing touches the previous night indicated it was mutual. Rey wished she had more experience in these matters than she did. Her only kiss prior to yesterday had been with a dying Ben Solo one year ago. It had been a kiss of friendship and gratitude and so many things they needed to say in a limited amount of time. It had not left her aching with sexual curiosity the way kissing Hux had.

Her senses alerted her that the subject of her investigation had entered the shipyard and disappeared beyond a half-constructed cruiser roughly twice the size of her own. Rey carefully moved to the far side of the roof, mindful of the security droids patrolling below. With a proper view of the aisle between ships both Natalie and the smuggler were visible having a discussion about the metal cases between them. Rey began capturing holovid with her data pad. She made sure to keep recording until after the exchange was completed. Finally, she thought. They could head to Coruscant and brief Poe. 

Rey scaled the rooftops back to the public port eager to be back on her ship and en route to the Commonwealth capitol. When her beloved cruiser came into view, she hurried up the ramp to find her ginger companion at the console. He eyed her over his shoulder and nodded in greeting.

"I got it all recorded. We're set. I think with both vids we can even ID the drug runner," she announced with optimism.

He stood, accepting the data pad she held out for him to view her footage. "This will be sufficient," he agreed.

"I'll give Poe a heads up that we'll be at the capitol very soon."

Hux set the data pad in her vacant seat and blocked her intended course. "I think...we've earned five minutes of respite," he said with the expression she would always remember as the 'Dejarik look'. It sent a shiver up her spine. 

"Five whole minutes? For what?" she challenged.

He tilted her dainty chin upwards with a single finger, realizing her defiant stare only served to egg him onwards. "Well, we are out of chocolate," he reminded her. She could get lost in those green pools, she thought. 

"I don't need the chocolate," Rey breathed out just as he touched their lips together. His lips were as soft and gentle as she remembered from the previous evening. It contrasted with his possessive grip on her waist as he abruptly yanked her closer. If Rey had wondered if the previous evening had simply been a passing curiosity, the attention Hux was paying her lips begged to differ. She held onto his neck while he kissed her into breathlessness in the small cabin of the console. 

Hux did not know what about the Jedi woman had begun to attract him initially, but he now noticed a multitude of pleasant attributes as she clung to him. The feel of her toned waist in his hands, her curious tongue against his, her sweet and earthy scent…coupled with the unconditional solicitude with which she regarded him, Hux was feeling increasingly compelled to explore her. When he paused to allow them both a breath, he noticed her lips were tinged a lovely pink from their kisses.

She stared up at him searchingly, releasing a tense breath. "Hux...I should come clean about something," she announced suddenly. Her fingers disappeared from the hairs at the nape of his neck and he missed them immediately.

"What is it?"

Rey's eyes hovered above her own hand on the center of his chest. Her hesitation invoked a feeling of dread in the ex-general.

"Poe and the others do not yet know you are alive. When we get to Coruscant, I intend to tell him." His brows knitted together.

"You rather implied he was well aware and offering us  _ both _ a role in this intergalactic policing division, did you not?" 

His tone instantly made her feel small. She took a step away from him. "Yes and I am sorry for being misleading. I did not want your identity to be an official 'Galactic Commonwealth' issue while we were trying to accomplish our goal."

At this he sneered, very much resembling the general from the holonet broadcasts promising order and world domination. "I was more  _ useful _ to you in my anonymity."

"No. That is not how I meant it. It is better that I explain it to Poe in person, after having gathered our evidence. Then extending the position to include you will… make more sense," she tried her best to explain. She could feel his irritation.

"You let me agree to come with you under false pretenses," he accused angrily. "For all I know, we will land on Coruscant and I will be taken into some sort of custody." 

"No. Hux...I won't let that happen. We will have a discussion about it with Poe before our work is presented to the head council." He was pacing to the best of his ability in the small cabin. She now felt awful about her omission.

"Utterly manipulative. I hope you are satisfied with your success," he said, eyes flashing hotly. "I think I'd rather head back to Dagomir 3 for my ship. You do your 'talking' to Dameron alone and let me know how that goes." He turned abruptly to gather his things in the back of the ship.

"Hux," she called after him with frustration. "I am sorry, but you don't have anything to worry about."

He ignored her, stuffing his few belongings into his knapsack in the cargo area. He could just hop a transport headed out to the rim planets. He had just enough credits remaining to make it back in a couple of days. She was out of her mind if she thought he would just march into the Commonwealth capital and hand himself over to whatever reparative action some panel deemed fitting for a war criminal.

"Hux, stop this. You are being rash. I said that I wouldn't let that happen and I mean it."

He slung his bag over his shoulder, angry with her but also with himself. Of course it had been too good to be true. He had obviously lost the ability of sound decision making sometime over the past few weeks. Had he been so desperate for anything resembling normalcy in his fractured life? He palmed the ramp release forcefully hearing Rey's voice like they were underwater. 

"Hux. We are so close. You can't seriously be bailing on me."

Control. He needed to take it back. This would help. 

"We are literally about to show  _ all _ of the work we've done...so we can shut this thing down."

He started down the ramp.

"...Armitage."

He did stop at this but his anger still simmered on. He did not turn to face her. People were only kind when they needed something from him. Rey had been no different. 

Her voice was much closer when she spoke again...just behind him. "I am truly sorry to have withheld that from you. I see now that it was  _ not _ the right thing to do," she began softly. "I know it can be really hard to trust people so if you do decide to leave I understand..and I won't stop you. But if you come with me, I am giving you my word there won't be any more secrets." 

"Why do you need  _ me _ to do this?" He rounded on her suddenly, eyes still bright with anger. "What do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything from you."

"I seriously doubt that. Why this whole charade?"

"I...honestly? I had a feeling." She was undeterred by the resultant eye roll. "Yes, the Force initially drew me to you and the whole serum thing. But now…"

"Now what?" he pressed as he loomed over her.

"Now I actually like working with you. You had plenty of opportunities to bail or double cross me and you didn't. We seem to make a good team," she concluded, gesturing between them. 

Somewhere within her speech he felt some of his anger diffusing. No one had ever 'liked' working with him. They did it because he was effectual. She stared up at him so earnestly. Hazel pools threatened to warm him from the inside out. "I had your back out there, didn't I?" 

No, don't touch me, he thought desperately. That would definitely impede his resolve. 

Her hand ghosted up the front of his shirt to where it rested squarely on his chest. "I am going to have it on Coruscant." Trust me, she implored silently. He gripped the nape of her neck almost harshly, forcibly kissing her for the second time that day. He felt her startled posture utterly melt against him.

This woman was assuredly going to end him.

"No. More. Secrets. And if Dameron is unable to guarantee circumstances that I can live with, I am out Rey."

"I'll take you back to Dagomir 3 myself," she promised.

\---

  
  


Cleared to dock at a public port in the Federal District of the city-planet, Rey steeled herself. She had not been here in many months, having all but fled the endless durasteel spires and crossways for the solitude of the jungle planet. She hoped no one had taken her departure personally.

Before she and Hux left the ship she handed him his helmet. "You are going to need this in the very least until after we meet with Poe."

He donned it grumpily, following her down to the port. They crossed to an overhang sheltering transport vehicles and Hux could make out Poe Dameron leaning casually against one of them. His face positively lit up when he saw Rey.

"The prodigal daughter returns," he declared, pulling her into an embrace. She beamed back at him.

"Look at you!" She exclaimed, indicating his crisp officer's uniform in Commonwealth navy blue. Impossibly, he blushed a little.

"Well, you know I had to clean it up a bit when I started directing the entire Galactic Commonwealth armed forces," he explained. "I spend more time in meetings or at a desk than in my ship these days."

"It suits you," she assured him. 

"Who's your friend?" He nodded toward an awkwardly hovering Hux. 

"Oh him? I actually need to speak with you about that...when we get somewhere private."

"I'm not going to get a name?" Poe pressed.

"You will. C'mon. Take us to your office," she urged heading into the transport.

Hux nodded politely at Poe's intrigued face as he passed by him to follow Rey into the vehicle. "I know him, don't I?" Poe persisted.

Rey did not give in, but instead spent the ride to the old Senate compound catching up on all of the progress Poe had made with recruitment. The former rebel glanced periodically at their helmeted and silent companion but did not press them on his identity. Hux was a ball of nervous energy, feeling ridiculous hiding behind a mask like his former nemesis. He tried to convince himself Rey knew what she was doing.

Poe escorted them into the labyrinth of the Senate compound. Passing soldiers and officers alike Poe and Rey were often saluted. In the confines of his office, Poe shut the doors and took a seat at a wide grey desk in front of a picturesque view of the Federal district. Rey and Hux took seats at a small round conference table.

"Enough with the mystery,' Poe insisted. "What's up with your guy here?"

"Ok, you should take off the helmet now," Rey advised solemnly.

Hux immediately removed the suffocating thing, and observed all manner of shock and surprised recognition play out on Dameron's face.

" _ Hugs _ is alive!?"

Hux rolled his eyes with great annoyance. He was not even slightly in the mood for this. "Yes, Dameron, I am quite alive. And 'Hux' will do, if you don't mind."

"After all this time? Official records claimed you were-"

"-executed as a traitor. Yes. My duplicity on that subject was a roaring success."

Poe turned to Rey. "Why didn't you mention him earlier?"

"I was feeling things out for myself. He has been helping me with the Dagorians over the past several weeks. Thanks to Hux, we have evidence to stop the new drug trade and hopefully the kidnappings of more Dagorian children."

Poe ran a hand though his thick curls still staring at the ex-general. "What made you come forward now? Man it's been, what, a whole year?"

"Rey discovered my presence on Dagomir 3 and….well after some persuasion I decided her quest was worthy of my assistance," he explained neutrally. 

"He has been an excellent partner, Poe. You said you needed me on the new intergalactic policing division. I would love to take you up on it if I can bring Hux in as well."

"Whoa whoa. Let's slow down a bit. I need to inform the rest of the Armed Forces Coalition and you will need to update them on the work you've been doing. I don't think the Senate needs to be involved in this...but since the new division falls under defense, the Coalition is going to want to at least discuss it."

Hux bristled instantly. "I will not participate in any trial."

"Hey...I didn't say that," Poe assured him. "Look man, you did some horrible things back then. But you also fed the Rebellion key information about Exegol and the Emperor." He released a levelling sigh. "You also saved my life. And Finn's life. And Chewie's life. That alone makes me inclined to give you a chance."

Rey glanced over at him encouragingly. His posture was rigid but she could feel him trying to relax. Poe continued. "Also...I would take Rey's judgement over my own  _ any _ day."

"Except on hyperdrives and lightspeed jumping?" she teased.

"Hey, I always brought her back in one piece," he reminded the Jedi. He sorely missed the Falcon.

"Let's not bore Hux with  _ that _ old debate. We can show you what we've got."

Hux linked his data pad to the presenter in the center of the table and began from the very beginning of their investigation.

  
  
  
  



	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Content Warning**
> 
> The rating has been upgraded from 'Mature' to 'Explicit' in light of... developments. For anyone who might not prefer this, there will be content marker before anything heats up too much so that you may skip over it.

\---

Poe personally saw Rey and Hux out to the transport after their meeting concluded. Before Rey could join Hux in the waiting vehicle he called out to her.

"So…like I said, the Coalition members won't meet for another few days to go over everything we just discussed. I made sure you had a room at the usual place for however long you would want to stay. I was  _ not _ aware of your pal there when I made the arrangements," he explained cautiously. The establishment he referred to was a rather high-end hotel on the upper-most level of Coruscant. It had been seized by the First Order late in their rise to power and at the turn of the war, one of the Commonwealth's first actions had been to begin returning assets to their rightful owners. The owner had graciously promised members of the Rebellion complimentary lodgings whenever they needed. 

"We'll be fine, Poe. Those rooms are plenty spacious compared to my ship."

"If you say so. And another thing, the meeting takes place right after the wedding so…. I know you'll be in town to make it."

Her brows furrowed. "What wedding?"

"I asked Zorii to marry me," he responded nonchalantly.

"Poe! You're kidding."

"Nope. We sorta reconnected after Exegol and started seeing each other. With Kijimi gone, she stayed for a while on Coruscant and started helping with reorganization of the armed forces. It just felt like I was getting a second chance, you know? I mean...there was an equal chance of her shooting me as there was she would say yes."

She absolutely gushed over the news. "Poe this is amazing. Congratulations. Have you told the others?"

"Yup. Finn and Rose have been back for a month or so. I knew you were on the way so I waited to tell you in person." His brown eyes shone with warmth. 

"I couldn't be happier for you two. Of course I'll be there, Poe." 

"Thanks Rey. I will shoot you the details. I can't wait." He nodded toward the transport. "If you need anything else...someone to help keep an eye on him...just say the word. I'll have a detail set up before you reach the hotel."

His protective tone brought a genuine smile. Friends were definitely good to have. "I've got it, Poe. But thanks," she replied, heading for the vehicle. 

"See you in a few days!" He called as it took off toward the sky lanes.

For Rey, it was very strange to return to the same establishment that she had fled from full of aimless emotions and loneliness with Armitage in tow. Her thoughts were disordered and riddled with reminders of the past. If he thought anything of her silence on the ride over or in the lift to their quarters he said nothing. She tapped a passcode in at the door and it slid open with a hiss.

He instantly gathered that this was an expensive suite, but of course, on Coruscant that wasn't saying much. Any rooms on the upper levels of the planet were going to be top notch. They entered into a combined sitting and eating area with vaulted ceilings and an entire wall of glass looking out over the evening cityscape. The lighting was soft and inviting as it reflected off of glossy stone surfaces.

"Did Dameron offer to pay for these arrangements?" he couldn't help himself from asking as Rey disappeared into the bedroom.

"No need," she called from out of view. "It's a perk from being in the Rebellion. We returned this place to the rightful owners and they let us crash and eat here when we are in town."

Hux raised a reddish brow at this, slowly following her to the bedroom. "As long as you want?"

She shrugged, tying a familiar looking cream colored robe at the waist. So this is where she had gotten that thing, he thought. "I believe so. Most of the others have settled into permanent housing either nearby or off planet. I stayed here for weeks right after the war."

She gathered her clothes, dropping them into a laundry chute receptacle near the fresher door. He did not make any effort to hide his interest in the way the  gauzy fabric draped against her presumably naked body. Finally divested of her scavenger's tunics, wraps, and leathers...Rey looked less 'the warrior' and more 'the maiden' for a change. Hux very much wanted to touch her again. He kept a respectful distance instead. 

"There's a ridiculous selection of meal items in that data pad in the dining area if you...want to order us something to eat," she suggested, now aware that he had been staring at her. 

"You trust me with our food arrangements?" he teased, eyes continuing to follow her as she stowed her duffle bag into a wardrobe. Her neck seemed to sport a faint blush that disappeared beneath the neckline of the robe. He quietly delighted in being the cause of it.

"Are you planning on ordering us dried rations?" she quipped, disappearing into the fresher. 

"Perhaps." He left her to shower in peace and went to explore the rooms. He had not been able to enjoy fine accommodations such as these since the war. There was a small kitchen area and a wet bar stocked with exotic spirits and several bottles of wine. He would certainly be trying those. 

He did find the terminal for ordering food and thumbed through it. It was an extensive menu to say the least with cuisines from all over the galaxy. Hux found himself considering what Rey's tastes might be and  _ wanting _ her to be pleased with his choices. He had only seen her consume fruit and the steamed grains. Did that make her a vegetarian? Food was notoriously scarce on Jakku and meat was even more so. Perhaps she would like to try it. He ordered them both steaks and then an extra plate of cooked vegetables in grains in case that had been too presumptuous of him. He added chocolate cake, knowing how well-received the delicate flavor had been. 

He poured himself a drink and watched the speeders drift by through the massive windows. The wine was sweeter than he would typically prefer, but it did its job. As the drink worked its magic he began to consider he might have overreacted just a bit when Rey explained about Dameron. As she had predicted, no one had shown up to arrest him. Poe had heard them out and seemed rather inclined to advocate for their cause. There were officers of the First Order that had been with Hux since its infancy and he couldn't think of any that would have vouched for him in any sort of campaign. He did not feel particularly deserving of their good faith.

"Does this remind you of Arkanis?"

Hux had not heard Rey approach and saw that she had donned some oversized pajamas in the same generic but soft cream fabric as the robe. Her feet were bare, hence the silent approach, and her hair hung in damp disarray between her shoulder blades from where she had roughly towelled it dry.

"Not exactly," he turned back to the window. "There is no planet quite like Coruscant."

She hmmm'd thoughtfully. "I didn't like it here the last time I stayed. I didn't feel like I belonged."

"And how about now?"

She smiled but it didn't teach her eyes. "Doesn't matter. I have a job to do. Though, I think it's going to be better this time."

He downed the rest of his wine, feeling an uncharacteristic twinge of guilt for his earlier threat to abandon her. "Not that my opinion counts for anything, but I suspect you could fit in anywhere you desired."

She arched a single chestnut brow at this, observing his handsome profile. His hair had gotten a little longer over the weeks, and the front fringe partially obscured his brow in a way that softened his features. "Maybe. The company does make all the difference."

The door chimed and the robotic voice of a service droid announced the arrival of their dinner. Rey allowed it inside where it set covered plates down in the dining area. It pulled out a chair and paused. 

"I believe that's for you," Hux gestured toward the table and followed her over. 

Hux sat near her at the round table and the droid finished setting up. It refilled Hux's glass with the opened bottle of wine and, before Rey realized what it was doing, began filling a glass for her. "No! I don't need an--"

"It's different than the scotch. Sweeter. You might like it," Hux suggested. She eyed it for only a moment before allowing the droid to finish pouring. It bade them a good evening and saw itself out. They lifted the lids off the dishes and the aroma of savory seasonings and grilled meats filled the air. 

"This smells amazing," she remarked and started to inspect the meat.

"It's bovan steak. I did not know how partial you were to meat. There's vegetables if you would prefer…" he explained hesitantly.

"I have eaten avian meats and fish on D'Qar. I'm sure this is fine." She dug in and found that while the texture was interesting, the flavor was extraordinary. 

Hux decided his meal was heaven. Gods it had been too long since he had experienced finery. Rey appeared to be enjoying hers as well he noted with some pride. When she paused to take a gulp of wine he winced at her cough.

"You should sip it...slower. It's better that way."

"Ugh. It's not exactly refreshing."

"Just try smaller sips." He raised his glass in demonstration. "Second chances," he offered in a toast and took just a little. 

Second chances. Somehow those two words carried so much meaning between the two of them. She tried again and agreed it was easier to appreciate the complex flavors and sugars this time. It made her belly feel warm.

"Thanks. It's...good. Better."

Their dinner passed with light conversation and Rey explaining Poe's upcoming wedding. They both agreed it would not be wise for Hux to join her with his identity and future still being sorted out. He was not familiar with this 'Zorii Bliss' but she sounded feisty by Rey's account.

He filled her glass again as she started on a story about her wookie friend and some creature on Ahch-To. He listened attentively and observed that she was becoming slightly more animated as the meal progressed. Her cheeks held a bit more color and her eyes sparkled. She followed him without breaking from her story as he collected the dessert plate and forks bringing them over to the sofa.

She set her glass down to act out some reaction from the wookie and he found himself laughing with her. 

"Those birds tried to nest with him  _ each _ night we were there. They wouldn't give up...poor Chewie."

"He seems like a rather layered individual."

"Very. But much kinder than you would expect." 

He offered her the first bite of chocolate cake and she closed her eyes in satisfaction. "I think...you mean to spoil me completely rotten," she announced after swallowing.

"Well if you're going to do a thing, you ought to do it properly." 

He grinned smugly, aware that the oversized pajama shirt had shifted to expose more of her shoulder and collar bone. He longed to put his lips there and wherever else she might allow him. 

Rey could feel the effects of the wine, but it did not seem to impede her functioning as she feared it might. She felt warm and more relaxed in Hux's presence than ever. The room was inexplicably cosier. More importantly, she could still feel the Force humming peacefully around and between them. 

They demolished the slice of cake and the rest of the wine. Rey took hold of the hand resting on Hux's thigh and squeezed it gently. "I am really glad you decided to stay."

Her hair had dried in slightly frizzy waves that framed her face. She reminded him of a lovely nymph from a children's story. "I am...sorry for the way that I reacted. I do not do well with surprises."

"It's alright. I should have told you sooner. I had no idea you would end up being this decent," she admitted with the half-smile.

"Just decent?" he questioned, fluidly threading an arm beneath both of her knees to pull her sideways into his lap. Her small yelp of surprise was not in protest. "I'd say I've been a kriffing delight."

He did not allow her to respond before covering her lips with his own. He could no longer help himself. Perhaps the wine had tipped his reserve or the mystical courting nature of sharing a fine meal with a beautiful woman. But he desperately wanted to deepen whatever it was developing between them.

She returned the kiss with equal fervor, enjoying the strength of his hands splayed against her back and thigh. He felt her slender fingers at the base of his scalp and thought he might devour her whole if she let him. 

Rey realized that she may not have had much in the way of romantic experience, but she knew that she was attracted to the ex-general and his present handling of her was stoking those embers. His mouth once again found her neck and he proceeded to press hot kisses down to the dip in her collarbone. The hand that had been against her thigh had worked its way under the border of her shirt and onto her bare waist. His thumb traced a lazy path against her skin as he nipped her shoulder playfully with his teeth. 

The surprised giggle and petulant glare this earned him encouraged him to push her further. He leaned her back against his palm just enough to bring a clothed nipple between his lips. Her soft moan was perhaps the sweetest thing he had heard in a long time. She clutched his shoulder as he worried the soft nub gently until it hardened. Hux sought its partner with the hand beneath her shirt, pleased with the way her eyelids had fluttered shut. He pressed a kiss on the valley between both breasts where the V in her pajamas dipped lowest. Her scent was fully intoxicating.

He could feel his own stirring arousal and in a remarkable show of clarity he reminded himself that while she was not roaring drunk, she was definitely under some influence of the wine. He wanted to explore her but more importantly, he did not wish to ruin any of the new experiences she might share with him by rushing her. He had been selfish his entire adult life. Tonight, Hux resigned himself to allow her needs to be his sole focus 

"Rey," he spoke against her chest. 

"Mmm?"

"I think we'll be more comfortable in the bedroom. Will you join me?"

"Yes," she agreed after a pause. She slid out of his lap and followed him to the sleeping area. It was a large room with a bed that could likely sleep four adults. There were large doors to a balcony overlooking the sky lanes still full of traffic. Coruscant clearly never slept. He tapped a panel that fogged the glass for some privacy. When he turned back, Rey was seated on the center of the bed watching him expectantly in the dim lighting. The air had changed. It was as if on the sofa they had been encapsulated by the buzz of the wine and amicable conversation. Here it seemed they were even more isolated by their heightened awareness of one another. 

**Content Advisory**

Hux removed his boots and scooted next to her. He threaded his fingers in the soft strands of hair behind her ear trying to gauge her response to him in this new setting. She leaned into the touch, her lips grazing the inside of his wrist inadvertently. He kissed the opposite side of her jawline, matching the gentleness of his grip in her hair. He could barely detect her Force bending at the very edge of his mind. Not quite the nudge she usually started with. How had she phrased it? 'Sniffing the stew'? He spoke closely to her ear, voice just above a whisper.

"I only intend to go where you'll have me."

Rey recalled offering him the same sentiment when being given permission to explore his mind. She realized how vulnerable he must have felt now that their roles seemed to have reversed. She nodded her understanding.

Satisfied with this he returned to her lips once more guiding her onto her back. His hands itched to be everywhere on her at once but as he suspected all of this to be a novel experience for her he contained himself. He paired opened mouthed kisses with undoing the buttons of her shirt. Hux then slid a warm hand inside caressing an expanse of taught skin.

She let him explore freely and couldn't help the way her breath hitched when he began to knead one of her breasts. Her skin tingled pleasantly wherever he had touched. His mouth took off with licks and nips, traveling to where it ultimately settled on laving a hot wet tongue on the other breast.

Rey felt pressure in her core blossoming. She arched up into his ministrations, wanting more from him but not knowing quite how to articulate this. He grounded her narrow hips with a firm palm just below her navel. It thrilled him that he could elicit pleasurable responses from this fierce woman. Her eagerness encouraged him to drag a few fingers just under the loose waist band of her pajama pants. Her hands, which had largely remained fisted in his hair faltered momentarily. 

Hux did not immediately push further...just continued to suck at the warm pebble of her nipple. But when she seemed accustomed to the idea of where he was headed, he reached far enough to discover she was not wearing any undergarments - good girl - and that she had been pleasantly truthful about her grooming preferences. He slowly dredged a single digit up the moist crease of her folds.

She breathed out a soft 'oh' at this new sensation and gripped his shoulder tightly. He repeated this several more times, returning to kiss the junction of her neck and jaw. She was beginning to pant, her breaths so close to his ear that they tickled. He increased his pressure and on the next pass took his fingertips on a tortuous detour 'round and 'round the soft nub at the hood of her folds.

Rey was full of desire. She pulled Hux back into a breathy kiss and arched into his hand. When he paused for a breath he noticed her eyes were darkened with arousal. This, combined with the wetness now coating his fingertips, had him straining uncomfortably in his own trousers. He did not wish to interrupt her enjoyment for a moment, even to address his own. Eyes never leaving her face, he slowly slid a single finger inside of her .

She gasped at the intrusion and gripped the ex-general's neck. He stroked her trying to progress his thoughts past how tight and unspoiled she apparently was.  _ No one _ had done this with her and she was allowing him to. She was trusting him. 

"Rey…"

She made some inarticulate sound in acknowledgement. He continued to caress her walls as he spoke over her ear. "Do you enjoy this?"

Eyes shut, she nodded without hesitation.

"Would you like more?" 

A second nod answered him. He swallowed the moan that erupted when he added a second finger. He crushed the small hooded nub with his palm as he buried his fingers inside. Her hips fought to meet his hand as he pleasured her. He could feel she was nearing her peak as he quickened his pace. She tugged at his clothing as he curled his digits against her flesh sending her over the edge. With a soft cry, she clenched tightly around his hand, arching and moving toward him. Tremors wracked her while she rode waves of pleasure. He caressed her folds through it all until the shudders subsided and she lay limply breathing beside him.

She watched him in the dark as he examined the slickness of his fingers. With lucidity returning to her, so did awareness of what he had just done for her. She had never allowed anyone to touch her that way before and it had felt pretty damn good. But of course she would be expected to reciprocate, right? Rey didn't even know where to begin.

"You've made quite the mess," he admonished.

She felt herself blush. That was certainly not her fault. But his eyes, still vivid green in the dim grey light from the balcony doors, seemed to twinkle with amusement. "I warned you about sharing a bed with me," she reminded him. 

His expression softened almost affectionately before he rolled away and got to his feet. The tented bulge of his arousal was poorly hidden, even in the dark. "It's rather time I made use of the fresher. It's been a full cycle since you've slept…. don't wait up." Confused, she watched him disappear behind the fresher door.

  
  
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	13. Chapter 13

Droplets pelted ginger locks relentlessly as Hux worked his own flesh. The vision of Rey squirming beneath his touch moments before drove his need. He had been under the shower for several minutes before he felt Rey at the edge of his mind seeking entry. 

No, he thought to himself, unsure if she could have heard it. He did not need her both on his mind  _ and _ inside his head right now. He just needed to finish so that he would be able to lay next to her without pitching a tent for the remainder of the evening. He didn't know quite what had stopped him from encouraging Rey to see to his own release. He vaguely recalled being quite selfish with his previous romantic entanglements. Perhaps he could not justify asking anything of the sort from her when she had been kind enough to him as it was.

The glass panel keeping the water spray contained within the shower stall suddenly slid open behind Hux. He halted mid-stroke. 

"What on Hoth do you think you're doing?" he demanded without turning to face her.

Her arms snaked around him from behind, paralyzing him. He could feel her nakedness flush with his back. 

"Scavaging," she replied, running her hands up both sides of his body. He turned slowly to face her, his erection grazing her wet stomach as he did so. He felt exposed in more ways than one with her standing so close to him without a stitch of clothing on. 

"Why?"

"Because I'm good at it," she offered playfully. The lights in the fresher were only at 40%, but it was enough to discern both the mischief and shyness with which the Jedi regarded him. She gently closed a hand around his member. "And I'm a fast learner...if you'll show me."

To his astonishment, she began to hesitantly jerk him with her hand. He now had his first full view of her naked form to date, and her brazen attempt to take his helm. Rivulets of water chased each other down her chin and the mounds of her breasts. It was beauty he couldn't really put into words. He dazedly traced the outline of her ear with his fingers, breath hitching when she squeezed with more enthusiasm than was necessary. He quickly closed a hand around hers.

"Some pressure is...good. Not quite  _ that _ much," he advised softly, moving her hand the way he liked. She adjusted accordingly watching his face for some positive response. He closed his eyes as she picked up her rhythm. He felt her lips ghosting over the wet skin of his neck as she pressed closer. 

This was new for him. 

Hux's sexlife had begun at the age of nineteen when his father had decided his coltish innocence had gone unaddressed long enough and assigned one of the few female members of his killer militia the task of seducing him. He had not known it at the time. He had been confused and flattered that a woman of her skill and finesse had chosen him for her affections. He came embarrassingly fast under her ministrations. The few partners that followed were hormonally driven and emotionally unsatisfactory. All parties had low expectations and had gotten what they needed from the other. As he grew older and busier he pursued no one and rejected advances with little sympathy. They were rarely interested in him beyond what his command status might provide for them so why waste time?

Rey, on the other hand, clearly needed nothing from him. She was a skilled warrior and regarded very highly in the new government. She was attractive and likely capable of snaring any suitable partner with little help. However, here she was sharing the shower spray with him with a hand around his cock because she wanted him to feel good.

He didn't last long. He felt himself grip her shoulders tightly before spilling onto her hand and arm with a rough sigh. She continued to caress his flesh gently as the waves washed over him. When she solicited his mind this time he did not care to stop her. 

Rey only wanted to know what he was feeling. He seemed vulnerable in a way she had not previously experienced with the ex-general. She felt his perception of pleasure at her touches, confusion and trust subtly warring with each other. Affection?

He let her roam as he tilted her chin up for a kiss. He had decided he  _ really _ enjoyed kissing the Jedi woman. He felt her smile against his lips and realized she had heard his thoughts on the matter.

_ "I like kissing you as well,"  _ she intoned silently.

The shower had washed away the physical evidence of his pleasure but their closeness spoke to the barriers they had already broken. He held her silently for an indeterminate number of mintues as the shower drummed around them. If she stayed pressed against him this way wet and bare, Hux suspected he would be hard again in little time. He reached blindly until his hand connected with the water controls and turned off the warm spray. Rey shivered almost immediately.

"My apologies. We will both be prunes if we stay under much longer," he explained, rubbing her shoulder as if to warm her. The tenderness of the action was not lost to Rey.

"It's alright." She raised a hand and a pair of towels floated over the glass to land on their heads. She wrapped hers around her body like a cloak and smiled at the disheveled head of coppery hair that reemerged beside her. "I had a really nice evening, Hux."

Rey left him in the shower to tend to her own newly wet mane. 

\---

  
  


It had been longer than she could remember since the last time Rey had slept in so late. It was early afternoon when her eyes peaked open and surveyed her surroundings. She knew immediately that she was alone but could sense Hux not far away in the main area of the suite. Her clothing had been returned by the hospitality droids and was folded neatly beside the laundry receptacle. She stretched and dressed quickly, curious as to how Hux had managed to get up without waking her. Had she been  _ that _ tired?

Rey emerged from the bedroom looking refreshed, hair back tightly, and on a mission for tea. 

"In another 30 minutes I intended to check your vitals," Hux drawled from his seat at the dining table. He was reviewing his data pad with a mug of tea. The dishes from the previous evening had all been cleared. There was a platter of fruit and breads in the center. She dispensed herself some tea in the kitchen area and joined him sheepishly at the table.

"Why did you let me sleep so late? It's nearly noon."

"Because," he slid the fruit medley closer to her pouty visage, "I prefer my companions well rested for whatever...endeavors lie ahead." 

Did she detect innuendo? That wasn't like Hux. However, neither was pleasuring her...and that had definitely happened. She popped a violet berry into her mouth.

"I see. I'll try not to shower so late tonight." She smirked cheekily over the top of her mug. 

His eyes roamed over her thoroughly before returning to his screen. He wouldn't be baited into ravishing her so early in the day. He had  _ some _ semblance of self control. "Your pad was going off rather inssesantly before. I suspect you have some messages," he informed her.

"Oh?" She retrieved it from the sofa table and began to swipe through the various screens in quick succession. There were quite a few. She opened Poe's first: he had reached out to the Dagorian government to formally update them on the investigation and thank them for working with their 'liaisons' in the field. Clever, he was, to subtly cast his net of officiality. He indicated that the council would convene in four days, two days after his wedding. The details for that were attached.

Rey summarized this for Hux and continued to individual messages from Finn and Rose. Finn was of course delighted she was back in town and insisted she come by to visit asap. He alluded that his travels with Jannah had revealed some things about his heritage he wanted to share with her. 

Rose's message had been equally adamant that she come visit and had gone a step further: she wanted to pick her up this afternoon for some pre-wedding errands. Curious about what those errands might entail, Rey immediately responded she had no plans and to comm her if she still wanted the company. It was obvious that Poe had not mentioned Hux prior to them messaging her or they would have been bursting with questions.

"It seems I have a lot of catching up to do with the guys."

"Understandably. I suppose you'll have to warn them of my continued existence."

She nodded thoughtfully. "I am sure it won't be a problem, but I do need to explain things to them. I'd like to spend some time with them today and tomorrow before the wedding."

She wasn't asking permission but something in the way she announced this made him suspect she wished for him to be ok with it. 

"I am quite fine on my own, if that was a concern of yours."

She fussed over the peel of small brown citrus fruit. "Not a  _ concern _ really. I know you know how to be discreet getting around town. Just…"

He waited impatiently for her to finish her thought.

"Do you have any old...friends or someone you might like to know that you're alive after all this time? Maybe not here on Coruscant, but in general."

He did not. And it just occurred to him that someone like Rey, who championed for just causes with no promise of reward alongside like-minded do-gooders, might find that hard to accept. This, especially as she planned to leave him alone to reunite with said do-gooders and hug it out or whatever it was people like them did in the absence of an active rebellion. He set his data pad down. 

"Rey. I wasn't being particularly dramatic when I spoke of my lack of family. Also, the conditions under which I previously worked did not foster…. _ friendships. _ " She looked strangely let-down by this. "I imagine any allies I might have had, if they survived, are somehow incarcerated or in hiding as I was. Neither circumstance would welcome a visit." He leaned in. "I am ok with this."

She mostly believed him. He had probably conditioned himself long ago not to rely on others, as she had as a scavenger. But there was something healing about having others who cared about you. She cautiously considered the two of them as friends of sorts. Perhaps she was his only friend. The nature of their relationship was evolving. Did he even welcome closeness from her?

"If you ever decided there was someone worth seeking….I would gladly help you. I found Luke Skywalker, after all, and he'd been in hiding for years." 

An undiscernable emotion briefly passed behind his eyes before he settled on his preferred wry amusement. "I will keep that in mind, but I don't think those particular services will be required."

He watched her for some time while she worked on the data pad and crunched on toast. She took her usual position, hugging the one knee to her chest instead of sitting like a lady. Where this had previously irked him, he found it comfortingly familiar. Rey was always Rey. Fierce, kind, and strikingly innocent despite the darkness she had faced…. Darkness that likely still lurked somewhere in the galaxy. It amazed him that she deemed him worthy of that kindness.

She got up to answer her comm pinging from the bedroom. She carried on an animated conversation with someone before reemerging. 

"Rose is on her way over," she announced while clipping her lightsaber to her waist. "I don't know how long I'll be but I'm only a comm away."

It was charming that she felt the need to reassure him of this. Here in the sparkling city of skyscrapers, there were no swamp monsters. No black abyss to swallow him. He approached while she fussed with one of her arm wraps and captured the offending appendage. 

"How will I amuse myself in a world without Jedi scavengers?" He posed, efficiently tightening the end of the the arm band she had been wrestling with. Her eyes remained transfixed on his face as he did so.

"I suspect you'll think of something, Armitage Hux. Please don't forget your helmet when you do."

In what was becoming a familiar gesture, he gently tilted her chin upwards to receive a languid kiss. She opened for him immediately, allowing his tongue to dance against hers. When he pulled away her lips were pouty and reddened from the attention.

"I like that," he breathed out.

"You like what?"

"When you use my given name."

There. The half-smirk that was becoming a clear favorite of his. 

"Then I'll try to use it more often."

She left him standing alone in their suite wondering ruefully if what he was feeling counted as pining.

  
  
  


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	14. Chapter 14

The feelings of excitement and warmth that radiated off of Rose when Rey hopped inside the waiting vehicle washed over her like rays of sunlight. She didn't realize she had been missed so thoroughly.

"I wasn't so sure you'd ever come back," she admitted, as Rey buckled herself in. 

"I needed some time, I guess. It was good for me." Rose nodded, appraising her briefly before peeling away from the curb and upwards towards traffic. 

"Finn says I'm a pretty fast driver. You might have to hang on," she warned. Her lead foot sent them weaving around numerous vehicles before she found the lane she wanted and leveled out.

"So he usually let's you drive?"

She laughed. "He doesn't really get a choice. I picked this speeder up at an auction and did all of the repairs and upgrades myself." Rose tapped the console proudly. Rey nodded in appreciation. She suddenly altered course downward into a tunnel. "The shops we're going to are just a level down. Way better prices than up here," she explained.

Rey gripped the seat firmly as the velocity caused their mass to strain against the seat straps. Once they emerged on the other side and slowed down she turned to her driver. "What are we shopping for, exactly?"

"I need to pick up something to wear to Poe's shindig besides cargo pants. Have you already found something?" she asked with genuine curiosity. 

Rey had not actually given it much thought over the single day she'd had since finding out about it. "No. I have never actually been to a wedding or anything formal."

"There's a first time for everything," she responded encouragingly. Rey then felt her mood take a somber turn. "My sister's wedding was the only one I have been to. She wasn't married very long before...you know."

Rey sends her waves of peace and understanding in the Force. Rose does not comment on it, but Rey is sure she can feel it. Everyone lost _someone_ in that awful war. It was a miracle they had made it to the other side.

"So what should I be looking for? I've only ever worn this...or something like this," Rey indicated her current garments.

Rose chuckled. "Just..not that. Something that makes you feel and look good, I guess. You never know who you might meet at these things."

There was an air of mischief about her words, and Rey's mind immediately strayed to Hux. She didn't know what the two of them were exactly but she intended to continue spending time with him. She didn't want to 'meet' anyone really. She felt guilty that she had not revealed him yet. Perhaps later, with Finn present. She shrugged instead. "Maybe."

They caught up on what they'd been up to all year as Rose parked the speeder in the fashion district. Rose had a regular position managing an engineering team for the Galactic Commonwealth's growing fleet. She made a casual comment about how expensive Coruscant was and the lack of space she shared with Finn. Rey followed her into a shop.

"So you two have….moved in together?" She tried to ask as nonchalantly as she could. She did not wish to make Rose uncomfortable, especially since she historically did not have the sort of relationship with her where they discussed such things. She immediately sensed the engineer's embarrassment. 

"Yeah. Only recently. We stayed at the hotel...then with Poe prior to setting out to find out about Finn's family. When we got back...he and Zorii of course had started staying together." She pulled a random dress off a rack and returned it after a quick assessment. "We figured we would save a ton by being roommates."

Rey nodded. "You couldn't have chosen a better roommate, I am sure." Rey would easily have the full story from Finn. She changed the subject, nodding in the direction of the shop owner. "Should we ask for help? I have absolutely no idea what's appropriate."

Rose eyed the humanoid wearing layers of neon silks and bangles. "I don't think this place quite has what we are looking for."

They browsed a few minutes before Rey followed the shorter woman to a different clothier. The items here were noticeably more muted in style and colors. She felt like there would be something to her tastes in here, even if she didn't know what she was looking for. They were helped in and out of several items each by a Twi'lek aide. She wasn't very chatty but when Rose dawned a tight and flattering cobalt blue gown she interrupted their conversation with "This, you buy."

It took Rey much longer to make a decision. It seemed unjustified to spend credits on an outfit made of impractical delicate fabrics that she would likely never wear again. 

"Hey...you can always wear it to the _next_ wedding," Rose had suggested, her round face materializing beside her in the mirror. "Or...trade it for parts at one of the outposts. A dress from Coruscant might be worth a few refurbs."

The second suggestion seemed much more likely to occur, in Rey's opinion. She considered the deep garnet silk and gold borders. She had never worn anything so richly colored before and she felt a twinge of self-consciousness wash over her. There was nothing discreet about the dark and sultry red. It was more of a long, slitted tunic than a dress with matching leggings. The low boat neck revealed the expanse of her shoulders. It reminded her of the beautiful festival garments the women wore on Dagomir 3, except she could move freely in it and carry her weapon discreetly. The Twi'lek woman returned with a long matching scarf and pinned it onto her shoulder. _Dupia_ , she had called it.

Rose nodded with enthusiasm. " _This_ , you buy."

Rey did buy it, waving away the shop aide's attempts at hustling jewelry and other adornments. When the woman suggested a pair of dainty gold flat shoes Rose sat them atop her purchases. "My treat. There's no way I'm letting you stomp around in that outfit with your boots."

Rey eyed her boots sheepishly, following the shorter woman out to the speeder. "I definitely do not stomp."

  
  


\---

  
  


Three hours and fourteen minutes had passed since Rey had taken her leave of their suite...not that Hux had been keeping track. He had busied himself with the local broadcasts and reading. It was difficult not to fixate on the potential results of Poe's council meeting in a few days. The Commonwealth general had seemed motivated to help, but Hux knew nothing of the other representatives. For all he knew they had all grown up in the Hosnian system and would demand penance. 

At the fourth hour, Rey comm'd to let him know she would be dining with Rose and the ex-storm trooper at their apartment. This was perfectly reasonable, of course, but Hux felt his mood darken with something akin to jealousy. Just as he confirmed earlier that day, he had no one to visit or catch up with. Besides his Jedi companion, he didn't have people out there. Over his year in hiding he found solace in being alone and trying to make his own way in a changing galaxy. Now he wondered what it was like to have friends while his sole companion was otherwise occupied.

Hux ordered a modest meal and poured himself a stiff drink. The image of Rey offering to help him seek persons from his past kept resurfacing. It wasn't the first time she had offered to help him in some way without demanding anything in return. He did not feel he deserved her unsolicited kindness but it had warmed him all the same. Sitting alone in the dimly lit suite clutching his imported brandy, he brooded over not having anything to offer her. During the war he had any imaginable resource at his fingertips. He could have offered her technology, exotic foods, passage to any corner of the galaxy. Now what did he have? Himself?

He surprised himself with the sound of his own bitter laughter. It wouldn't be long before she was no longer interested in _that_ particular commodity. When her newly sprouted sexual curiosity inevitably dwindled, she would find a way to distance herself. He would then be no worse off than he was before she stormed into his life on the jungle planet, and just as friend-less. He refilled his glass as he reflected darkly on this. Career failures such as himself would be wise to maintain realistic expectations of his future. Enjoy small successes...and pleasures...as they come but expect that all good things end.

The mechanical feedback of the door code being keyed in quickened his ethanol-faded pulse. For a brief moment he fretted over appearances. His shirt was untucked, the open bottle of liquor more than half empty. He sat up stiffly and immediately felt foolish. She was a mind-reader. No amount of straightening up could ever truly hide things from her. No. Embrace your reality, he thought wryly. 

As the door hissed open he raised his glass to Rey in greeting. "Welcome back."

Her eyes adjusted to the dimness before they passed over him and the opened bottle in a silent assessment.

"Hey." 

She carried a sack with some clothier logo on it to the bedroom to put it away. He half expected her to stay in there but she returned and deposited herself beside him on the sofa facing him. With her back against the armrest she sighed heavily. 

"How did your catching-up with the friends go?" he started conversationally. She did not appear nearly as enthused by their mention as she did when she left earlier that day.

"It was ok, I guess." Her eyes followed him as he took another sip from his glass.

"Did you tell them about me?"

"I did. They were surprised." Rose had been surprised about Hux. Finn had been more surprised _she_ hadn't told them. "I might've hurt Finn's feelings a bit. Unintentionally."

So this had dampened her mood. 

"The storm trooper?"

" _Ex_ -storm trooper, yes. I think it'll be ok when some time passes." 

Even through the alcohol Hux could tell she was not as sure of this as she intended to convey. Always a brave face. She brought her legs up onto the sofa between them and the sight of her boots on the cushions briefly raised a vein in his forehead. She watched his neck bob with another sip of brandy.

"Does my drinking make you uncomfortable?"

The sound of him setting the glass down too heavily acted as punctuation. He supposed he had had enough for the evening.

"Why do you ask?"

Taking one of her boots into his hands he decided, or perhaps the brandy did, not to be annoyed by her answering a question with a question.

"You seem… overly aware of it." He removed both boots one after the other very carefully and set them on the floor. She watched him as he did it with open curiosity. 

"People change when they drink."

"How so?" He moved close enough that her feet were propped up by his lap and selected one for a test squeeze.

"I don't know. I think it might depend on the person….or maybe what they drank."

"Both, certainly."

"Maybe," she agreed, quite distracted by the fact that Hux was unbiddenly massaging her foot. "In the past I found it best to avoid others after they've...had a lot."

He hmm'd thoughtfully, working a thumb against the arch of her foot. He had never been particularly interested in a woman's feet before. He blamed the brandy for that now, and that Rey was allowing it. 

"Last night, would you say that we had 'a lot'?"

Rey eyed him cautiously. She couldn't help but feel like he was toying with her. "I don't think so. I still felt like myself...not changed. Just really good and relaxed."

"Wine is remarkable in that way. Have I changed? If I have, I give you full permission to avoid me," he offered dutifully. He hoped that she wouldn't, though. He had been alone most of the day and for the first time that he could remember, he longed for the company. Rey's company.

"I think you have a little. But it's ok. I like this," she nodded towards his attention to her feet. No one had ever given her a massage before. It felt glorious. "On Jakku it was a terrible idea to get drunk with water being so scarce. I think the only humans who did it were trying to escape something."

"Aren't we all, at one time or another?"

She shrugged thoughtfully. "I wished things were different at times but I never gave booze or spice or the other options serious thought. Now, I meditate." There was pensive silence while Hux gripped the other foot in his firm hands. "Do you?"

"What? Meditate? Of course not." How absurd.

"Do you want to escape?" she corrected.

Hux couldn't decide in his mildly dulled state if Rey meant it in a general sense or specific to that moment. He couldn't ignore the optics of being discovered drinking alone in an inadequately lit room. Besides, he was embracing his reality tonight. 

"Sometimes. When one has too much time to think," he responded honestly. "I can't imagine meditation solving that problem."

"It doesn't. But it converts that time into something productive."

"How so?"

"When I am feeling overwhelmed by things...my thoughts, my circumstances, or whatever...I find control in the stillness. I can slow my thoughts and process them one at a time."

This sounded oddly practical.

"Is that a Jedi trick or...a Rey trick?"

Her laugh brightened the space between them. 

"Meditation is a Jedi practice for sure. I was taught to use it to connect more deeply with the Force. But I believe anyone can use it to sort through...things up there." His touch had become feather-light as he considered her explanation. She retracted her foot abruptly.

Green eyes narrowed. "Are you ticklish?"

"No." she answered. Rey planted both feet firmly onto the tiled floor, daring him to pursue his present hypothesis. "I probably should use the fresher and change for bed."

"NO. Just...sit a while." Internally he winced at how desperate that sounded. "You're young to be turning in at sunset," he amended. Hux watched the recognition of his challenge play out in her raised brow. 

"Alright." She agreed, settling back with her legs folded beneath her. She took his abandoned drink from the table and took an experimental sip. Hux looked on in horror as she immediately spat it back into the glass. "You've been drinking this horrid drink all evening?"

"That 'horrid' drink would normally cost us hundreds of credits per bottle." He slid the bottle away from her as if to protect it. "Shall I get you some wine? You seemed to enjoy the one from last night."

Rey considered this. Honestly she had enjoyed _him_ more than the wine last night. "I'll pass." She took in his casual state with some amusement. Hux usually managed to appear purposefully composed. Outside of the tunic he wore on Dagomir 3, his shirts were tucked in and clean. He shaved often enough that the rust powder of stubble he was sporting now was a rare sighting. She wondered at the darkness that had hung around him when she entered their rooms tonight. He seemed to detect her scrutiny.

"Water, then. I could certainly use some."

He fetched two glasses of water and downed half of his immediately. When he set it down he noticed she was still studying him.

"How was _your_ day?"

A harsh relexive chortle escaped him. "It was fine."

"Did you go out into the city?"

"No. The local newscasts were as close as I desired to be to the citizens of Coruscant. There was even mention of your general's wedding on there."

That shouldn't have surprised Rey. The leaders of the Rebellion still enjoyed some celebrity status in the core worlds. He didn't offer to elaborate any further.

"What did you need to escape tonight?"

"I'd rather not, Rey."

It was one thing to wallow in a little self-pity. It was another thing entirely to drag someone else into the muck.

"I think it would help if you did."

He sighed. "I am sure you believe that. But I'd rather not waste the last of my brandied state on my brooding thoughts."

She didn't like that he chose not to trust her with whatever had been bothering him, but she wouldn't force it out of him. Hux needed control over when and how much of himself he gave away. She had been allowing him this and it seemed to be the right move again and again. Rey turned his face gently towards hers and pressed her lips to his. He obliged her, somewhat surprised she wasn't attempting to burst in on his thoughts. 

She withdrew after a moment, relishing in the way his kisses were both gentle and possessive at the same time. She very often sensed he wanted more but refrained. He was capable of a great deal of restraint. Rey stood up, and before Hux could fret that he had somehow driven her off, she extended a hand to him.

"There's another way we can spend the rest of your 'state' if you like. I did promise not to shower so late tonight. It would go much faster if you helped me…."

Hux blinked once before taking her hand. "I suppose, if I could be of some assistance." 

He allowed himself to be led to the fresher. While Rey undid the buttons of his shirt, he buried his feelings of impending failure. It was absurd to think of Rey needing his help with anything so mundane as scrubbing between her shoulder blades. But he found it even more curious that she would choose him out of genuine desire. 

  
  
\---  
  
  



	15. Chapter 15

**Merry Christmas to anyone still reading this fic. This chapter is in two parts (because it got fairly long).**   
**Thanks to all the kind comments and kudos. I would love to know what sort of music people read this**   
**fic to if you want to share.**

**If Only -Odesza**

**Breathe -Telepopmusik**

\---

A full day and another shared shower later, Armitage woke to grey skies over Coruscant. He learned that Rey tended to seek his warmth out in her sleep and ended up under his arm or strewn across him. While her proximity was a pleasant development to grow accustomed to, it sometimes made him feel hot under the blankets. Breathing in the scent of her hair, he didn't have the heart to push her off. Instead he pulled the blankets off of them to cool off. The effect was the same.

Hazel eyes blearily revealed themselves. 

"You'll have to choose one... myself or the blankets."

She pouted so fleetingly he thought he imagined it. He silently hoped she chose the former as the contact was oddly comforting. 

"Can we just stay in here all day?"

"We could," he began hesitantly. She had not yet lifted her head from where his chest met his shoulder. "But you'll miss Dameron's wedding. Again, decisions."

Her forehead creased momentarily before smoothing itself back out. "I couldn't do that."

Hux supposed this was a downside to keeping friends. They expected things from you. Social engagements had a way of becoming obligatory maintenance of the relationship. And Rey did not appear to be capable of purely selfish behavior. 

"Then I suggest we have tea and whatever melon this place has lying around, and embrace our circumstances."

She did finally sit up, creating a vacuum of cool air against his side. "Is that stirring rhetoric how you used to motivate your troops?"

"Motivate? That is what reconditioning programs were for. I only ever barked orders."

How strange it was to hear him reduce his command duties to such simple and unflattering terms. She stretched like a feline, toes wiggling under the blankets."You gave that speech on the holonet once, before you… you know…"

He joined her sitting up, raking long fingers through his fiery fringe. He had once been proud of that moment. Now he all but cringed at the memory. The levels of desperation required to start disposing of entire systems was not something he had overlooked during those times, but it was one of many things he had kept to himself to stay alive. "That was propaganda...Snoke's idea. And the day is far too young and grey for such topics."

"You’re right. Yes and yes to tea and melons. I think I’d like to meditate for a bit while we wait." She slid off the bed and got dressed...shedding the loose pajamas without preamble. Hux forced himself not to loom about watching her toned muscles flex and stretch as she donned her usual attire. He got dressed himself and went to see about breakfast.

His tea was hot and bitter, just the way he liked. He watched the morning traffic against a backdrop of dreary grey atmosphere. He might as well have been back on Arkanis avoiding his father's wrath over some infraction or another. He would once again have the day to himself to brood and obsess over his future. At an angle he had a view of Rey out on the balcony, legs crossed hovering in her usual meditation stance. He vaguely recalled what she had said about it being productive for one's mental state. What sort of things was she working through out there? He wondered if he took up any substantial real estate within her Force-enhanced psychosphere. 

She certainly had carved out a rather persistent corner for herself within his own mind these days. He was developing troubling feelings of possession concerning her that he obviously had no right to. When she ran her curious fingers over his wet skin he fought his impulses to overwhelm her. He let her explore and taste and set the pace for whatever dance they had been doing these past few days. But he was only human and his restraint was not fathomless. He wanted her. 

He let the hospitality droid in with their breakfast - the same light fare of toast and fruits. The regular meals had restored much of his constitution recently. He felt and looked stronger than he had a month ago when he had met Rey. She had never commented on his appearance, but he liked to imagine she now found him at least minimally attractive. Why else would she be humoring him?

When Rey came inside to join him her hair sported a dewy sheen.

"I suppose the weather won't be on our side today," she commented as she joined him at the table. The platter appeared undisturbed. He had waited for her.

"Where I grew up, people seemed to think a rainy wedding day signified good fortune in the marriage." Hux considered this to be rubbish concocted in a place where a sunny day was the exception rather than the rule. But he thought it might delight Rey to hear a positive spin on things.

"I have never heard such a thing. I hope it's true...at least for Poe and Zorii." The corners of her mouth twitched into a hesitant smile. "Honestly, I could think of worse circumstances to be starting a new life with your soulmate. I love rain," she reminded him. "If it were me, I would have the whole thing surrounded by water."

She was met with a smoothly arched brow. "Is that so? On a ship then."

"No ship. Just in the water..a lake maybe….up to my chest. On a hot day….maybe it just rained and you can still smell it in the air."

"Rain and a lake. That is a lot of water. Do your guests observe from the shore or must they be equally saturated?"

"They should join us. That way they are on the journey as well. Starting anew. You think it's ridiculous," she accused in response to his mildly stricken expression. "What would your day look like, then?"

"It's not ridiculous. Atypical." 

The 'us' in her synopsis had formed an anxious knot in his chest for reasons unknown. It was a hypothetical description of an event she would experience with her supposed 'soul mate'. It would not affect _him_ one way or another.

"I don't have any such fantasies. I only ever dreamed of command success and staying alive." At her crestfallen expression he regretted being quite so honest. "Perhaps you can ask me again after we've dealt with Dameron's Coalition of Armed Forces, closing the K-serum investigation, and actually manage to get on this policing division." 

She leaned back in her seat suddenly seeing him more clearly. The brooding darkness she often detected in his presence made a bit more sense now. "I've got your back, remember? And Poe has mine. We will figure out something that works for us one way or another."

This 'us' did not elicit any reflexive anxiety.

"I'd like to share in your confidence."

"Well, Poe has never let me down. He wants this to work out as well. You only have to be honest with them. They'll see you want to do things differently."

"You forget I was smuggling contraband when you discovered me," he reminded her.

"Maybe don't volunteer that," she laughed. "But really, the truth is ok."

He hid behind a sip of tea instead of immediately responding. He believed she saw a better version of his story than actually existed. He had only agreed to this quest on the promise of employment and the chance at a new career

"The truth it is then."

\---

At Rose's suggestion, Rey left early to get ready at their apartment. She hoped that she had left Armitage in a more positive place. He struggled with some deep seated anxieties that he seemed to downplay in her presence. She wondered if he would be open to learning meditation. She was no expert on it but suspected it would be helpful. Earlier that morning she had dissected her feelings of shame for accidentally hurting Finn. She released the negative energy of those emotions into the Force making way for anything it might reveal to her. She found herself with perceptions of the future...distinct feelings of resolution and progress. There were no images to further define those feelings but they felt very real and promising.

This wasn't something she could easily articulate to Hux when he had doubts. Perhaps she could show him next time. 

The ex-storm trooper was not at the apartment when Rey arrived. Rose explained he had an errand to run and would meet them there on time. Rose was a vision in deep blue. She was finishing an intricate braid around her crown as Rey dawned her garnet dress. 

"Let me tie up the back," Rose offered, gathering the little golden rope ties that joined the edges of silk across a chasm of bare skin. She helped pin the dupia just as the aide at the shop had, pleats laying elegantly over her right shoulder. Rose assessed her approvingly. "Yeah. This was definitely the move."

After some persuasion, Rey dismantled her usual trio of hair buns for a single low ponytail. She felt like she was wearing a disguise, an elegant one. 

They hailed a speeder and headed to the Federal district. Poe's ceremony was to take place out on the officers' hangar overlooking the city. The rains had blessedly stopped a short while ago leaving the pavement wet and reflecting both rows of cruisers docked there. Zorii's old ship was at the end across from Poe's. It was a fitting stage for a pair of reformed smugglers who had found each other after the battle of their lifetimes. 

It turned out that Zorii Bliss was unbelievably gorgeous. Rey had never seen her face prior to today and she could see how Poe...in all his charismatic glory had fallen for her. She joined her intended before their officiant, wearing neither veil nor helmet. It was short and sweet...their love and excitement spilling out into the force like a waterfall. Rey drank it in, wishing one day she might have something so true and pure that she could not contain it either.

The reception was set-up in a formal hall inside the main Senate building. There were some representatives of local holonet broadcasts taking holovid where they could. Rey avoided them to the best of her abilities. She could hear Finn and Rose answering some questions politely in her wake. She would never be comfortable in any sort of spotlight or media crosshairs. 

She picked at small foods as they were presented to her. She did not know what any of them were at first glance and she found herself sorely wishing Hux could have joined her. He was more a member of this society than she had ever been. She imagined his confidence as he floated in and out of polite conversation. He would make his suggestions into her ear in his polished cadence and she would scrunch her nose and try them. Like the wine.

"Yes, I'll have a glass. Thank you," she told a droid offering her an array of beverages. She recognized the red drink that matched her outfit and hoped it tasted like the one Hux had given her. It was similar but less sweet. She could manage. She scanned the room with her eyes and her senses. There were many members of the rebellion and current diplomats decorated in their finest. Many took the opportunity to approach and remark on the success of the Galactic Commonwealth or how thankful they were for her work during the war. Rey was polite and turned no one away but she did not enjoy the onslaught. She found herself planning an escape... perhaps out into a corridor for a breather when Poe caught her eye from where he and Zorii were conversing with a lieutenant and her husband. He excused himself and headed over to her.

"I hope you weren't planning your exit _before_ I got to see your moves, Rey," he teased but his expression was one of concern. "You look amazing, by the way."

"Thanks. No, just some air I think. It's a great party. You guys look so happy together."

"Yeah," he ran a hand through the back of his hair nervously. "Now I just have to _not_ screw it up this time. C'mon. One dance, then if you decide you need more than a breather I won't hold it against you."

"I don't dance. I wouldn't even know where to start."

"Bullshit. All that flipping and twirling you do in a fight...I'm not buying it. And it's a slow song. You've got this."

She let Poe drag her out to a space near the musicians. It was his wedding day and so she decided to humor him. Then she would make herself scarce. He joined a hand with hers out to the side, staged one on his shoulder and pulled her into step. 

"See? Easiest thing ever. Now, I had been meaning to ask how things were going with you-know-who. You've been quiet. Anything I need to worry about?"

"With Hux?" she whispered. "Things are ok. He is...concerned about the council meeting you mentioned. I am prepared to speak on his behalf if that would be helpful."

Poe twirled her around, sharing an amused look with Zorii similarly engaged with their portly treasurer. He felt bad for the guy if he stepped on a single one of her toes.

"They definitely have questions. I sent a confidential memo out to our senior members giving them a heads-up that you would be there with the former First Order officer who had spied for us at the end of the war. I didn't say Hugs, but it's documented that he supplied the pivotal intel."

"I see. Any consensus as to how they're taking this?"

"Not yet but no one has made a fuss so I'd say that's a positive. They're good people. They seem to actually want to make things better for the worlds they represent so I am inclined to believe they'll give your idea a shot. I am already putting my backing behind it."

"Thanks Poe. That will go a long way."

"I should ask why you're doing this. Do you think he's changed?"

That was a tough question to answer. Circumstances were just so different when Snoke and Kylo Ren ran things. 

"He isn't trying to take over the world, if that answers your question. I truly believe he left all of that behind. He seems to want to be productive and do good work. If we can make that happen I think some really great things will come of it."

Poe knew he would do whatever he needed to make this happen for her. She had marched headfirst and alone to face the greatest evil the galaxy had ever known and saved billions of lives in doing so. Rey rarely asked for anything. If she wanted this guy on her team to fight crime across the galaxy, who was he or anyone else to tell her no? He placed a kiss on the top of her forehead as the song ended. 

"Tell ginger-snap not to worry. I'll see you both at the meeting."

  
  


Poe had left her feeling so relieved she decided to hang around a bit longer. She was social with other guests while successfully avoiding an engineer that had been trying to force eye contact with her. Couples laughing over cocktails or swaying together with the music did cause a familiar pang of want. All she had ever wanted was to belong to someone. For the longest it had been her parents. Now it was a different connection she yearned for. To be understood and cherished the way these people seemed to with one another. Had Ben lived, she thought it might have been possible. He had truly understood her at the very end. But that was not meant to be. 

Armitage Hux liked her. That much was obvious. He was slowly revealing aspects of himself she suspected very few if anyone had been privy to in the past. But did he understand her or want to? He certainly wanted to understand her body. Only time would tell if there was anything deeper there. She was enjoying the unexpectedness of their growing closeness. He was intelligent and funny when in a reasonable mood. At times Rey even found him surprisingly considerate. Perhaps this was the Hux buried under all the layers of self-preservation and control issues. 

On her second glass of wine, Finn finally broke away from where he had been finishing a dance with Rose and approached her.

"I didn't know you drank," he nodded toward her glass. He took one for himself. 

"I think I just drink this."

"Nothing wrong with keeping it simple."

"Finn...I didn't mean to keep things from you. I always intended to let you all know what was up." She needed to say it. Their friendship meant more to her than she suspected he knew.

Surprisingly he nodded, watching a smiling male humanoid flirting with Rose unabashedly. "I know you didn't mean anything by it. It had been a whole year….I was beginning to think maybe our friendship wasn't that important to you anymore."

"That isn't true. I needed-"

"I know I know. You didn't do anything wrong. Hell we all needed some time after what went down. Rose has really been great. I never really took time to appreciate her while we were fighting for the Resistance."

Rey studied his profile as he surveilled Rose from afar. He seemed way more receptive tonight than he had at his apartment.

"Do you love her?"

"I don't know. I don't _not_ love her. We've just been good friends and roommates up til now. I think she wants more."

Rey could feel his conflict and that he was shoving some things down from her. Finn projected more than anyone she had ever met. She suspected there was some Force sensitivity at play there but she didn't want to burden him with dealing with that until he was ready. 

"I have about as much experience as you do in that department. Telling her whatever it is that you're feeling will help you both, I think."

"Yeah when I figure it out." He leaned in, "About Hux….whatever it is you are hoping to accomplish, I hope it works out." He set his emptied glass down. "I need to handle this," he announced, nodding toward the second gentleman to approach Rose while they had been talking. "If you ever need anything...you know where to find me Rey.”

\---


	16. Chapter 16

**Please note this is part two of a two-part update.**

*Content Warning*

\---

  
  


Alone again, the ex-general settled in for some reading. Rey had been gone less than an hour before a mechanical voice at the door indicated there was a visitor. Hux immediately sprung for the blaster atop his duffle bag. 

"Identify yourself," he called through the door comm. 

"It's Finn."

Rey had not mentioned he would be coming by which meant she probably didn't know. "State your purpose."

There was a brief pause before, "To. Talk."

Hux considered that he was telling the truth, although it was suspect that he waited for Rey to leave before his arrival. 

"Are you armed?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Obviously."

"Well... don't shoot me. Open the door. Mine is on the floor."

Hux heard something clatter near the bottom of the door. Still aiming his own blaster he palmed open the door. The ex-storm trooper was there with hands raised and an impatient expression. Hux kicked the other blaster into the room. 

"So, you letting me in or should I leave? I've got a wedding to be at."

Hux gave him room to come in and shut the door behind him. "What do you want?"

"Man, I remember this place. The food is killer," he remarked taking stock of the room. He studied his armed host. The hair was a little longer and free of the stiff pomade Finn had been used to seeing. Obviously he'd nixed the officers' uniform for civilian clothes tucked in and neat. He looked infinitely more approachable than he used to. Hux Lite. "You really got out, you slick bastard."

Hux could not stop the resultant eye roll. He spread his arms as if to present himself. "Yes. I breathe. You came all this way to confirm that."

"No. I want to know what your intentions are. With Rey."

Ah. The protective big brother routine. He should have known. "I don't have 'intentions'. I am making it from one day to the next, just like you, I imagine."

"You're nothing like me. You only do things to your own advantage. I won't forget what you said when you freed us…you don't care about basic rights or other people."

As annoyed as Hux was by this whole exchange, he wouldn't refute the truth in those statements. "What else, Finn? You should get it all out now," he goaded. 

That threw the other off balance for a moment, clearly expecting some argument. He recovered. "I spent the better part of a year trying to piece together my past...one you stole from me. There are thousands of us holding onto scraps of our history, because you selfishly decided we would better serve _your_ fascist agenda than live our own lives. Someone like that doesn't just wake up and decide to be decent. So again...what are your intentions with Rey?"

"Whatever she wants." At Finn's discomfited expression he continued, "I have no scheme here. I have not been manipulating her into cooperation. I'm more a victim of that than she is. Rey is a goddamned _Jedi_. Believe me, she is in control. If you want to know more, ask her yourself."

"I know she can handle herself. But there are some things you can't deflect with a lightsaber." Finn lessened the gap between them. "She cares for people….some that really don't deserve it, in my opinion. If you're still who I think you are don't let her waste energy that could be spent on better causes."

Despite expecting to hear something to that effect from a man like Finn it still stung. He took a slow breath and swallowed the anger that threatened to spill over. 

"I'd much rather it was Rey determining what sort of 'cause' I am than you. Now, if you are through butting into my affairs it's best that you move on. You will see Rey at this wedding. Deliver your doubts regarding her good judgement to her directly."

It amazed Finn that after everything that had happened Hux could still get under his skin. Arrogance simply leaked out of the man's pores. He collected his blaster from the floor. 

"Whatever, man. Just don't do anything shitty. You'll regret it."

He let himself out, leaving Hux alone with his what... threat? warning? hanging in the air. Just what he needed to really start today's brooding off properly. It was as if the rain, solitude, and generalized feelings of impending failure were not quite enough to get the job done.

He eyed the unfinished bottle of imported brandy and decided against it. He was not a drunkard. Hux was absolutely capable of stomaching his reality without the veil of alcohol. Instead, he flipped on the holonet portal. He watched the end of some documentary on Gungan culture and made a mental note to ask Rey about them as she was so enamored with water scapes. They were not very welcoming of outsiders in their underwater cities, but if they both ended up stationed on Naboo he would fully encourage Rey to use her Jedi favor to go see them one day. He could imagine the childlike wonderment on her expressive face.

Coverage abruptly transitioned to the Bliss-Dameron wedding. He watched on in semi-detached interest as the network highlighted notable attendees as they arrived. A retired senator from Dameron's home planet was interviewed at length about the general's merits and reform of the armed forces. He clearly enjoyed being on camera and went on for some time. Hux did not catch sight of Rey until after the ceremony coverage and guests were being interviewed en route to the reception. She appeared with the ex-storm trooper and a shorter woman he recognized. She had been on his ship as a prisoner. 

Rey was radiant in the darkest red and gold. She looked somewhat abashed by the cameras and slipped away while her friends fielded questions about Poe and Zorii. It was brief but seeing her even for a moment dampened the unpleasant mood he had been wrangling for most of the afternoon. He decided to leave the broadcast on, if only to feel marginally closer to her. In a few hours she would return and he would make sure things were crystal clear.

  
  


\---

  
  


Rey returned to a completely dark hotel suite. It was not late enough that her companion would be asleep. Somewhat confused, she assessed her surroundings through the Force and detected Hux was indeed inside, or rather outside on the balcony. There was an odd sort of melancholy about him that she refrained from dissecting. He would feel her attempts and likely not appreciate it. 

He rested his forearms on the railing, watching the overpopulated skies. It had stopped raining hours ago but the damp chill lingered in a way that pleasantly prickled his skin through the fabric of his shirt. The sky had darkened to a rich teal-indigo that sent him back decades.

Rey offered a gentle nudge to his mind to announce her presence before wrapping both arms around his waist. Hux was instantly reminded of Nal Hutta and the way she felt pressed behind him on the speeder.

"You've been out here all night?"

"Not quite." He feared if he turned to fully look upon her he might lose his resolve to say what he needed to. 

Finely attuned to him, she picked up on his internal strife. "Armitage, what's wrong?"

She had let go to join him at the railing but he still hadn't looked at her. "Nothing. No, that isn't true."

Rey had never known him to struggle with words. 

"Rey, if I get my way and we end up working for Dameron….you do know that our…" 

Friendship? No, he decided, that presumed both too much and not enough. 

"... our association isn't conditional on that success, don't you?"

She rolled his words around inside her head for a moment. Maybe that second glass of wine had actually dulled her acumen. "I am not sure I follow."

"You aren't obligated to extend yourself beyond the case we've been working or any future cases."

"Extend myself how?"

"To me, Rey. You don't have to extend yourself to _me_." There, he had said it. 

She did not immediately react but he could feel her eyes on his profile unrelenting. "Where is this coming from?"

He desperately wished he had finished the brandy. His mind was entirely too clear for this conversation. "I wanted it to be said. No matter what does or does not happen between us personally...it wasn't some ploy to improve my circumstances."

She looked suddenly very intent. Perhaps too late he felt her pushing against his borders. He clamped down on them with all of his might. "Stop," he all but pleaded.

"Finn," she whispered, now fitting some of the pieces together. "What did he want? Show me," she urged. 

He did finally face her. She had wrapped yards of garnet and gold around her shoulders to ward off the chill. The metallic threads twinkled captivatingly under the city lights. She could have been just some Coruscanti socialite in another life. 

"No, not like that." His hand on her arm was unexpectedly warm on its careful journey under the scarf. He was delighted to find her shoulders bare. "I don't want to talk about your overly protective friends tonight. And...you shouldn't have done that."

"You're right. I'm sorry. I only saw that he was here. You don't have to tell me what was said." She hoped the exchange had been civil. Finn could be very passionate about his beliefs. Rey felt at least partially responsible for the ambush.

"I don't understand your need to do any of the selfless things you've invested yourself in lately, helping me included. But if you decide you would rather invest elsewhere, I will be fine." _When_ she decided, he amended to himself. 

She shivered at the direct contact with her skin. His touches were never clumsy or accidental. Like most things about him, Rey had learned, he acted with measure and deliberate intent.

"You're kind of wrong I think." She had let him pull her just a tad closer, mostly to reduce the chilly air passing between them. She inhaled the clean and heady scent of his aftershave, a smell that had somehow gone from familiar to arousing in the time they'd been spending together. "I mean…. things I do because of how they make me feel...by definition are self _ish_ , right?"

She watched the analysis play out behind his eyes. He was weighing all possible implications. "I suppose that depends on how exactly they make you feel."

"Helping you makes me feel useful," she explained carefully, following her own advice. "Being with you makes me feel good." Rey felt something subtly unfurl within him in response, and she realized it was because he had stopped actively blocking her. "Would you like me to show you?"

He nodded wordlessly and she pushed over the threshold sending first her arousal and generalized feelings of attraction. Then came more specific instances...the way she experienced his skin warm and wet under the shower spray, that first climax around his fingers and how it had traveled deliciously from her core to her extremities. Hux was responding physically to the images but it was feeling her miss him at the reception that had him bodily guiding her back inside their suite and out of the cold. 

He was fairly certain there wasn't another living being in the galaxy that had ever missed him. He couldn't properly filter the need that he knew he was projecting. He was kissing her and hoping the intensity with which he wanted her did not send her reeling.

_"It's ok,"_ she managed across the link while her lips were occupied. She fished blindly between them for the buttons of his shirt. She felt every attempt of his to pull his emotions back behind their gates. He had a strong desire to possess her, even if only temporarily. Was that what he thought she would be repulsed by? She wondered openly what it would feel like to belong to someone else even if 'only temporarily'.

_"If you'd like to know, I can show you. But I'm not going to hold back."_

_"Don't."_

A single word was the brightest green light he was going to get tonight. He yanked up on the fabric covering her shoulders, unwrapping her like a present. He shrugged his opened shirt off his own shoulders and reached behind Rey in search of a zipper or buttons. He found the criss-cross of rope laces over the expanse of her back and yanked one of the ends to untie it. The dress loosened and with some guidance, easily slid down to the floor. She was bare beneath it and Hux took just a moment to drop kisses down her neck and shoulder.

She let him turn her away from him and toward the large bed. He hooked his fingers in the waist of her leggings and underwear and slid them down her legs. The swoosh of the crisp silk was jarringly loud to their heightened senses. She felt his pleasure at the sight of her nakedness echoing around in his mind. His hot palms gripped her, pulling her back against him. His belt buckle dug slightly into her lower back, a sharp contrast with the smooth skin of his torso. Hux felt unfettered in tasting her skin, reaching below to her center and dragging a finger up through the already wet folds. She leaned back against him with a moan.

How was she already this wet for him? Hux nipped at her neck with his teeth enough to make her gasp, light enough not to leave a mark. "Lie on the bed for me."

Rey felt herself complying instantly, crawling forward on all fours until she reached the headboard. When she turned over to face him he wore an expression of hunger she had not quite seen before. It made her core ache.

He rid himself of the rest of his clothing and crawled after her in a way that excited her. He kissed her rougher this time, squeezing the back of her neck. She felt him hazily consider the ponytail and immediately she pulled it free for him. His fingers in her now free tresses were glorious against her scalp. 

Hux used his knees to part her legs and her breath quickened. He held her wrists firmly captive somewhere above her head and gazed down at her. If just for tonight, she was all his. He could feel through their link that she was nervous but trusting. He was achingly hard for her but didn't want to let her down or hurt her. He pressed himself over her, dragging the length of his erection through her folds. She arched beautifully into the sensation. Again, he passed through her dampness and she keened as he gripped one of her breasts.

Rey wanted him. Now. The feel of him against her was torturous, but she was letting him control this. He needed to. She felt him adjust himself and then the head of his cock pushed at her entrance. He hesitated a moment before entering her slowly. The stretch of it burned a little but it wasn't until he met resistance and suddenly jerked his hips forward that she felt pain. 

Both her sharp intake of breath and the mental echo of it alerted Armitage to her discomfort. He seated himself to the hilt and held still. She was so unbelievably hot and tight around him that feared he wouldn't last long enough to satisfy her. He didn't want pain to be the thing she remembered about fucking him. He reached between them to roll a thumb gently over her clit. Her perception of his pleasure and her own discomfort mingled strangely. As he stroked her, pleasure seemed to be winning so he tried an experimental thrust. She felt impossibly filled but no pain.

Hux released her arms for her hips, and pushed into her again. After he set a slow rolling rhythm she could feel a tightening deep inside. She wrapped her thighs around him firmly to deepen his thrusts and the low moan he released was gravelly in his throat. He gripped her hips so forcefully she distantly thought there might be bruises there later.

He could tell by the wondrous sounds she made that she was getting close, as was he. She held the back of his neck like a lifeline as he sank himself deeply…pausing to crush her entrance with his pelvis each time. It was effective. Suddenly her walls clenched like a vice around him. She was coming hard, and because he could feel it around him and doubling back in his mind, she brought him right along with her. Her back arched, lifting them both up a fraction as he spilled into her. 

Hux waited for the trembling in her walls to subside before making as if to pull out of her. She stopped him, pulling him down beside her still joined. "Just for a few minutes," came the soft request. 

He smoothed a few sweaty tendrils away from her face. "Alright."

At some time during the height of their pleasure, Rey's mind had slipped from his in the chaos. She very vaguely recalled snatches of his disordered thoughts...her name had reverberated around and 'my' or perhaps 'mine'. She suspected it was a passing effect of the moment but it caused a dull ache behind her sternum. So that's what it was like. 

She was quiet. Too quiet, maybe. Hux tilted her chin upwards so that he might study her face. Her expression was unreadable. Was she ashamed? Regretful? He had been _positive_ she was enjoying herself. 

"Stop. You're fretting. No I'm not in your head...I can just tell."

He stiffened. "You're...ok then. With this?"

"Yes. I just want to remember the feeling."

He hmm'd thoughtfully, considerably less concerned than he had been 5 seconds ago. 

"We could always do it again," tumbled out before he could stop the words. How unbelievably crass. The woman had barely had a minute to process the first time around and he was propositioning her for another go. "Not tonight, of course," he added pathetically. 

She was grinning now and pressed a kiss flat against his lips. "I think we could. If you're ok with us 'extending' ourselves to one another."

He finally did extricate himself from her carefully so as not to make a mess. Hux had zero intention of sleeping in soiled linens. He disappeared into the fresher where sounds of the sink running emerged. He returned with a damp towel after tidying himself up and sat beside her. "All I meant before is that you are not in any way obligated to pursue this," he explained, reaching gently between her legs to remove evidence of their pleasure. The warmth of the cloth and the tenderness of the action were equally unexpected. "And that I have not been attempting to deceive you." He tossed the towel toward the laundry receptacle and missed. "Are you on a contraceptive? We should get one if you aren't," he announced abruptly.

Rey couldn't exactly recall the last dose of her yearly booster. She had last received it in the infirmary of the Resistance headquarters...which meant she would absolutely need another one asap. "I was...I will see about it tomorrow. I'm sure there's a facility nearby."

He crawled under the covers beside her, allowing her to fit in against him. “I’ll go with you. I think I’ve had about enough of the inside of this hotel room.”

\---


	17. Chapter 17

Rey stood stoically at her view of the Senate compound. The overcast skies were breaking allowing glorious rays of light to stab their way through to the city scape below. The sight was both calming and inspiring for her, though the same could not be said for her ginger companion. He was practiced at not projecting his thoughts around her, something he had perfected under the duress of Snoke and Ren's rule, but his emotions often leaked out in tiny rivulets. He was anxious.

She eyed him, pacing in his helmet in the corridor outside of where Poe and the senior representatives from his Coalition of Armed Forces were in a meeting. Rey suspected Hux had a process of sorts. He always seemed to get his apprehension under grips when it was showtime so she left him to it. 

The day before, they'd had such a pleasant time together. After a lazy morning beneath the covers, they located a medical facility for her contraceptive booster without difficulty. It felt different getting it now that she actually had committed the act. Regret had been absent, but she was no longer indifferent. She now had feelings to associate with the thought of being intimate with another person. Growing up, her fantasies had been consumed by quenched thirst, satiated hunger, and the warm arms of parents she fully expected to return for her one day. In a bittersweet way, all of those things had been resolved, making way for new and intriguing experiences. The droid that administered the booster had politely offered one to Hux as well, who declined with the vestiges of a phobia hovering about him. Rey had not pressed the issue.

They had proceeded to walk some of the public sculpture gardens, where Hux often had to explain historical references or some widely known information about the artists. She thought it might annoy him to answer her many questions but he indulged her without complaint. She even caught his hand hovering over the small of her back as they moved from one structure to the next. It was strange to be handled so urbanely, least of all by a man. 

Presently he stood away from her trying to calm and organize his thoughts. He imagined all questions the Coalition's members might have for him and what answers would satisfy the truth but minimize the negative aspects of his actions historically. As it turned out, there was no version of events that was flattering for him. He just had to accept that and trust in Rey's assurances. The Jedi was the epitome of calm, arms crossed gazing out over the city. She offered him a tight smile before the door hissed open and a purposeful-looking Poe came out and closed it behind him.

"We just wrapped up the other agenda items. I will start off by summarizing your investigation on Dagomir 3 and how this is the sort of special project we will be better staffed to handle going forward. Rey, you can better explain next steps and Hux as your recommendation for an investigative partner on the base in Naboo."

Rey nodded in agreement. Hux removed the helmet, allowing him to smooth down his helmet hair to something resembling professionalism. Poe eyed him for a moment. "No one in there is actually from the Hosnian system," he added leaning in, "but Henrik is older than he looks. He was friendly with the Organa's from time spent here and on Alderaan."

"I see," Hux acknowledged, his feelings of impending doom re-intensifying. 

"You'll take questions and we'll adjourn. Shouldn't be too bad," he assured them, brusquely clapping Hux on the arm. "Ready?"

He was not, but he glanced at Rey's encouraging expression and nodded tersely. Entering the board room initially brought back traumatic memories of paralyzing fear. Sitting ramrod straight while Ren prowled a black conference table sniffing for weakness...a crack in his defenses that let slip a feeling or thoughts of betrayal. Hux had gone into each meeting knowing it might be his last and feeling a sickening sort of relief that another commander had gotten it this time or other.

This room was quite different, as were the circumstances. It was well lit by the same view of the Senate compound and sparkling pendant lights that ran the length of the room. About a dozen men and women, some decorated in pinned military achievements, talked quietly amongst themselves while nursing cups of caf and tea. The sounds of porcelain clinking and datapads chiming mingled harmlessly with their soft conversation, until they noticed who had filed in behind Poe and the Jedi. Silence fell around the conference table.

Undeterred, Poe led them to the head of the table and launched into introductions, referring to Hux as the ex-general and former Resistance spy from his memo. He did not acknowledge the quiet murmur that blossomed, but plowed through into a summation of the the kidnappings on Dagomir 3 and its relationship to K-serum. "Rey, maybe you could make suggestions for closing up the new syndicate."

Rey had never been required to speak publicly, but she had no reservations about briefing the esteemed collection of members from various planet systems. After what she had faced in her lifetime, a conference table full of aging military strategists and recruitment commanders hardly seemed daunting. "The footage we provided should allow us to identify Dorba's drug traffickers and start the process of choking out the crime network between the Hutt territories and Commonwealth worlds. To my knowledge it hasn't been done before, but with some stealth and ingenuity, Hux and I were able to get in front of two large scale enablers." She leaned forward onto the table, "The amount of good we could do without relying solely on underfunded local governments is limitless. Drugs, sex trafficking, slavery, pirates...all problems plaguing both Core and Rim worlds that no one has been able to solve. We can conduct investigations like this one with impartiality."

There was a breath of silence before an older Twi'lek woman cleared her throat. "Welcome back Jedi Rey. You've likely heard it many times, but allow me to repeat how grateful we all are for your role in destroying the evil that has plagued us for decades." Her standard was heavily accented by Huttese. Armitage stared straight ahead through it all, refusing to catch anyone's gaze for fear of what he might see there. Rey nodded in acknowledgement. "But I believe I speak for….most, if not all of us here when I ask why this First Order remnant is needed in the new unit. There are three generals from the old regime serving their life sentences in the lower levels of this city as we speak."

Rey was expecting this line of questioning. She glanced at Hux who gripped the back of the chair in front him with little visible tension. His face betrayed none of the apprehension she knew him to be feeling. Hiding his fear was a familiar dance. "As General Dameron mentioned, Hux began supporting the Resistance toward the end of the war, risking his life to deliver intel to us for months. It was his revelations about Exegol that led me to Darth Sidious in the first place. As we are all aware, he did at one time command the entirety of the First Order fleet. While no one is condoning his actions during wartime, he is overqualified to aid me in gathering intelligence and managing resources as we target these crime seeds."

There was some low discussion before a middle-aged humanoid with olive skin and gunmetal grey hair waved a hand. "Armitage Hux," he started, shaking his head as if wonders would never cease. "I had the distinct displeasure of meeting your father some decades ago." He stood up and Hux tensed in preparation for some physical display of the man's distaste for him. He approached the trolley against the wall and poured himself a fresh cup of caf instead. "He wanted funding from my foundation for that damnable school of his." Out of the corner of his eye Hux noticed Rey's hand leaving the hilt of her saber. 

No need Rey, he thought, this man who was obviously Henrik, would have plenty in his arsenal to cut a man down that did not involve physical violence. 

"He got his funding, alright, but not from me. Just what the galaxy needed, a training ground for his murdering extremists. Raising soldiers from the teet." He sipped his caf, cool eyes never leaving the ex-general. No one interrupted him, not even Poe who ran the meeting. "I thought, what were the gods playing at, gifting that deplorable man a son."

And here they were, back at the subject of his heritage. Why did he even bother? There was no defense for surviving that household.

"I watched in horror as the history of Alderaan repeated itself because one maniac had begotten another. Why should any one of us be convinced you've liberated yourself from those deep-seated ideologies? My apologies, General Dameron, Rey, your judgement is not in question here but the truth of his motivations."

From his seat, Poe extended a hand in Hux's direction. "Maybe just elaborate for the council so they can better understand who will be working for us."

"That is fair," he offered. He found himself pacing away from the table. "I won't insult anyone in this room by claiming to be a hero, reformed or otherwise. I once thought the First Order to be the answer to much of the chaos that plagues the galaxy. Overpopulated Senates debated, voted, and bickered over policy while crime lords ran the outer rim, orphans starved in the mines, and credits were misallocated to private trusts instead of public interests." 

Rey could sense dissention bubbling up over his words and she hoped he didn't overdo the honesty bit. A few of these members had been active in the Republic and wouldn't take kindly to its criticism from someone who had been instrumental in overthrowing it.

"At first we seemed to be progressively resolving these issues. But the regime began to evolve in a manner that even I...yes, Brendol's son, could see would  _ not _ be compatible with a thriving galaxy. Darth Sidious and Kylo Ren would not have cared for a strong intergalactic economy nor proper law and order outside the parameters of their cult.” No one had yet interrupted him so he continued. "I spent the last year living on the fringes of society, and while people are generally grateful for the lack of imperial governance or rather...star destroyers, the absence of policing has created quite the crime vacuum."

"We are all aware of the issues, Hux. Perhaps some more than others," Henrik cast a fleeting glance at the woman who had questioned them first. Historically the Twi'lek were long exploited in slavery and sex trafficking due to their poorly protected position near the Uncharted Regions. "But no one wants to think back to this moment years from now when you've tried to launch yet another wave of facist imperialism. How will we govern  _ you _ in this new role?"

"I'll have Rey. If my methods for pursuing these crime seeds require moral steering, Rey as an accomplished Jedi and warrior will be more than capable of any needed guidance. Besides that I can only offer my truth that I have no desire to overthrow the Galactic Commonwealth. Let it succeed where we...where I failed."

This seemed to deflate Henrik's tone. "Rey, you agreed to this responsibility? A man really should be his own conscience."

"I have. He is not...overly fond of people, but the importance of law and governance is a part of him. I sensed no deception from him. He will only be an asset to the division, not a liability." 

"I should hope you are right...for all our sakes. The galaxy has long been at the mercy of one ill-adjusted spawn or other with too much to prove."

"Henrik, Dezarra…your concerns are valid. This is why I invited both Rey and Hux here so that you might hear for yourself the dedication they've pledged to the new division." After a beat no one else was forthcoming, although their expressions did not instill confidence. "If no one else poses any questions, we will adjourn. You two, I will be in touch."

  
  


\---

  
  


The moment the lift doors closed shielding the pair from passersby, Hux released a long shuddering breath of tension. Rey beamed up at him in all her dimpled glory.

"See? That wasn't so terrible."

"If you mean it could have gone worse, yes. There are a number of accusations they could have levied against me to justify denying our request. I suspect they held back."

"Perhaps. They may discuss it more with Poe in private but I think they get the picture."

He did not understand how she could maintain such a positive outlook or even justify supporting him as she had, but Hux was grateful for it.

Rey insisted on a detour to check on her cruiser in the public dock. She had no doubts that Poe would be reaching out to confirm the results of the council soon and then they would be departing the core planet. Hux did not object, though she was doubtful that he was eager to return to the confines her cramped ship even for a moment. Once up the ramp he shed his disguise irritably.

"How much longer do you suppose I should need this thing?"

"I don't know. Just while we are in the core worlds where those who recognize you might be triggered to do something about it. After enough time I doubt it will be an issue, even here. What do you think?"

Rey made her way down into the engine compartment, leaving Hux to muse thoughtfully over the subject of his identity. "Enough time. I think that there are some things time cannot erase," he muttered darkly. Rey considered this while she carried out her inspections below. Henrik's jabs about Hux's father made her wonder just how permanent his childhood scars were. She knew him to be older than her, though she hadn't asked his exact age. How old did one have to be to shed the sins of their parents? She felt simultaneously relieved and guilty no one knew the truth of her heritage. She had never shared it with her friends, although she wondered if the Skywalkers had known. How was one redeemed from the most evil person in recorded history being their grandfather? 

"Maybe not erase," she eventually responded. "But our actions going forward can help repair and heal."

Rey was clearly governed by much more wholesome forces than Hux was. He wondered if associating with him would eventually cause irreparable damage to her own reputation. Another transgression to add to the heap. 

"I've obviously never met or even heard of your father, but you must be different than he was if you were willing to help both the Resistance and now the Galactic Commonwealth succeed." Just as he was thinking it odd to be having this conversation with her disembodied voice, her head reemerged at the top of the hatch. 

"Don't be so sure. I learned almost everything I knew about command and military strategy from that man. It just did not prepare me for the Sith and their agenda."

The name was said with obvious contempt. Rey observed him, elbow draped over a bent knee, leg stretched out before him on the floor of the cargo hold. It was becoming easier to imagine him in his youth, bright-eyed and fragile, evolving under the conditions of his environment that was harsh in ways that were so different than her own. He had only really spoken of it once.

"I don't think anything could have prepared you for that," she admitted, pulling herself up to sit facing him. "I wasn't fully trained when I met Snoke and Kylo Ren. What it took to push them from my mind was almost more than I could take...but I would do anything to avoid having that pain and coldness inside me again. I could see it driving a person to do unimaginable things."

Armitage had known plenty of pain in his time with the First Order. He shuddered at the vivid memory of Snoke's wrath when they'd lost Starkiller Base. He'd woken up days later in the infirmary with an arrhythmia and a deepened fear of their Sith leader. Who knew one could conjure lightning from their fingertips? 

"Hux?"

He flinched as if shocked by her hand on his knee. She also pulled away like she'd been burned. "Sorry, that hasn't happened in a while," she muttered.

"What hasn't happened?" She looked away, her expression uncharacteristically guilty. "Rey?"

"Sometimes when I touch objects I can see or feel things. Like some sort of transference. It hasn't happened in quite some time actually."

"You saw something just now...while touching me?"

"Just a flash... lightning. And pain." There had also been some sort of resolve. Whatever had been happening in the vision, he was not resisting it. "I'm not going to ask."

Previously he would have been highly upset by the intrusion. The privacy of his mind was literally all he had to count on. Looking at the frustrated set of her jaw as she wiped engine-room dust from her shoulders, he could tell it had been unintentional.

He lowered his makeshift armrest and took her elbow, silently making it clear he wanted her to join him. She obliged by sliding onto his lap, locking him into place with well-toned thighs. He didn't know how long she would entertain being in his life. But having someone to confide in or that took a general interest in his person was a rarity he couldn't bring himself to squander. 

"Ask."

"You sure? I can tell it wasn't pleasant."

When had his life ever been pleasant?  _ Well, the last few days weren't terrible, _ he thought wryly. "Only if you want to know. It honestly makes no difference at this point."

Rey was intrigued by the open invitation into his past. His green eyes were clear and unguarded as he rested warm hands on both of her thighs. This close, it was difficult not to drown in them.

"What happened?"

"It was a couple of years ago. When you and your Resistance cohorts destroyed the base on Ilum, I suffered some unfortunate consequences."

"The lightning. Was that Snoke?"

"Yes. Ren and I both got it rather severely. I had never experienced anything quite so savage before in my life." Given his upbringing, Hux knew this to be a morbid yet remarkable milestone.

Rey fought the knot forming in her chest. She knew that lighting rather intimately. She was capable of it herself, apparently. She had exploded an entire transport vessel with it by mistake and felt it's burning torture in the temple on Exegol. 

"I experienced it too. Palpatine, not Snoke. I can't imagine getting up and going back to work for someone who did that to me."

His responding chortle was accompanied by a dramatic eye roll. "It wasn't a choice, woman. I wanted to continue living so...once I recovered I just acted like it never happened. It wasn't like the entire fleet didn't know. I was down for days." She absently twirled her fingertips into the shorter hairs over his neck. Recounting the memories was less painful with her wrapped around him as a buffer.

When Palatine had struck her she remembered feeling like she  _ should _ have been down for days. Her Force attunement had certainly fortified her long enough for help to arrive.

"When I remember what we all went through during the war, I am still amazed it ended in our favor. Actually, if it wasn't for your intel I am certain it wouldn't have. There was no defense against a fleet of star destroyers."

For some reason this was the thing that made it hard for him to meet her gaze. 

"Rey. I really... _ really _ was just trying to stop Ren. I was being honest with the council. I wasn't going for heroism. After what I went through under Snoke, and then to have it actually get worse under Ren's rule, if you can imagine...it had to end somewhere. I already knew we had failed at uniting the galaxy. There was just no way a fanatical tyrant was going to help accomplish any of the First Order goals without destroying the world on his quest to capture you."

"You made the right call and did a good thing. So good...the entire galaxy benefited from it. Who cares if it was initially for selfish reasons?" In her exasperation she squeezed his shoulders firmly. She felt he was being mildly obtuse over this. 

"I don't want you to have an inaccurate view of me." 

"I've been in your head. Is there a more accurate view than that?" She adjusted herself on him and felt him respond to it instantly. His fingers hovered cautiously under the waist of her tunic.

"I don't suppose."

Her lips ghosted over the shell of his ear. Her cheek was warm against his temple. "You saw where your life was headed...and you changed course. Is that accurate?"

"Yes."

"Have you had ample time to hatch a new plan to overthrow peace?"

"I have."

Her lips fell to his neck tickling him as she continued with her questions.

"Have you come up with anything I should be worried about?"

He pulled her even closer so that his face rested joyously in her bosom, the friction over his groin becoming deliciously problematic. "I think you should worry about what this durasteel will do to your back when I ravish you on it."

"We have a cot."

They had a cot. "Did I ever mention how much I loved this ship?"

She laughed into the crook of his neck. "No, but duly noted."

  
  


\---

  
  



	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thanks for your continued support. I started this fic to cope with my own failing relationship and broken engagement. Not even sure I can blame covid. It was meant as an escape and I am very glad I decided to post it...and continue to develop these two.
> 
> Hurt You -The Weeknd

  
  
  
  


Armitage felt lighter than he had any right to feel. The afternoon following their morning meeting with the Coalition's senior council was filled with an indeterminable number of hours alone with his Jedi companion in the sleeping quarters of her cruiser. He was not sure what had come over him but the way she looked at him was not what he had ever come to expect from others, not even past lovers. There were no implied expectations or disappointment there...only boundless intrigue and perhaps a little mischief.

The moment he had her on her back beneath him he was aware of the subtle shift in her body language. She went from seductive and confidently playful to reserved and coy. Never submissive...he knew that would never be Rey. Any power he presumed to have over her was only his as long as she allowed it, and he was ok with this. It didn't make her curious touch on his skin any less welcome or the way she exhaled his given name when he entered her any less sweet. 

She kept to her own mind this time as the ex-general challenged himself to bring her not one but two climaxes on the thin double cot. Had she paused to consider it at the time, first impressions of the ex-general had not led Rey to believe he would be a generous lover. Initially, she had formed the conclusion that he was the most uptight person she'd ever met, with his firm boundaries and prickly disposition. But that image was sorely at odds with the man setting her senses alight. He appeared to be on a mission to discover all of her sensitive areas and every erroneous zone in a single afternoon. There was something to be said for a man that knew how to apply himself. 

The sound of Rey's stomach rumbling eventually drew them out of the lazy reverie they'd drifted into following their coupling. They agreed to return to the hotel and order up a small feast on presumably their last evening on Coruscant. 

Just as they had on their first evening, they ate their main course at the table and joined each other on the sofa for cake. This time Rey had insisted on having her own slice and Hux did not blame her. How would they ever return to bland grains and fruit after such splendor?

The portal was displaying a pod race. She watched with rapt attention, her tongue darting out periodically to catch errant chocolate from the dessert. Hux found his attention divided between her mouth and his own chocolatey treat. He had spent an entire afternoon tangled in her limbs and he still wanted more. What on Hoth was the matter with him?

She noticed him watching her and her cheeks grew warm. "Sorry," she muttered sheepishly. "I can't help it. It's  _ so _ good. I really hope they have this on Naboo or I am going to have to make up excuses to come back here."

He finally noticed she had already finished hers and he was only halfway through his. "If they don't, I suspect you could arrange to have it imported. The new government seems to be a big fan of yours…you could work that to your advantage Rey."

"Like some kind of perk?"

He shrugged. "I am just illuminating the potential merits of your reputation." Had he saved the galaxy, Hux was certain he would have had bigger demands than chocolate.

"I dunno. Seems trivial. With all they're dealing with...how could I bother anyone with my sweet tooth?"

Gods help them if she ever learned how to be selfish. "If you say so. You did, afterall, pledge to become my official moral compass."

Her little brow crease suddenly sprang up. "I just said that to put them at ease." She seemed hesitant. "Do you really think I'll need to be your guide all the time?"

He had brought it up jokingly but now he wasn't so sure. She was watching him expectantly and he had the distinct sense that he was about to disappoint her. He took as long as he could to chew the last bit of his dessert.

"I don't know. We are very different people, Rey. You all are bound to be at odds with my inorganic variety of problem solving at one time or another. And it isn't like I have an all-knowing fairy godmother whispering insights to me whenever I need it," he added sarcastically.

The moment the words tumbled off his lips he knew they had been a mistake. He flinched at the abruptness with which she stood from the sofa.

"Fairy godmother?" She repeated softly. "Is that what you think it feels like?" she demanded.

"I...no."

"Do you have any idea what it was like for me? To have a power growing inside me that I couldn't control or even knew what it  _ was _ ? Hearing whispers and seeing flashes of things I didn't understand? How about being inexplicably drawn to things that terrified me?" 

"Rey…" 

"The Force is neither benevolent nor evil. It's just there, pulling. Gods, if I hadn't met people like Leia and Maz who encouraged me….I don't know where I would have ended up. Probably with Ren destroying the goddamned galaxy.  _ Fairy godmother…. _ " She moved away from him, toward the massive windows. "I thought you were beginning to understand."

Hux was stunned into silence. How had he so royally destroyed their evening? He could see by the set of her posture she had thrown up shields that had been non-existent mere minutes ago. His first instinct was to snap back. How the hell should he know all those things about her or what her power felt like? She was the first Force-sensitive person he'd ever met that more-than-tolerated him.

He felt wooden legs lifting him off of the sofa and cautiously approaching her. His abrasive responses morphed the closer he got to her. 

"No," he responded evenly. "I haven't the faintest idea what that's like. I shouldn't have been so...flippant." He hazarded a glance at her profile, she maintained her focus on the twinkling vehicles drifting by. Her lips, previously supple as they had devoured the chocolate cake were pressed into a firm line. "I'd actually like to understand."

She did glance at him as subtly as she could manage. He seemed strangely cowed, a stark contrast to his usual prideful exhibition. She didn't know why his words had affected her so. She had better control of her emotions than this. Or did she? Her regular meditations had been helping to some degree but there were a number of feelings she still had not managed to put to rest more than a year later.

"It was...it  _ is  _ unbelievably lonely sometimes."

There. She had said it aloud. Rey inhaled abruptly as if coming up for air. There was considerable guilt in having this rare gift, and admitting it had caused her pain at times. Just speaking it aloud to someone felt like breaking an unspoken vow.

"I don't blame anyone for that. And you couldn't have known. There just hasn't been anyone I could even really talk to about it. I know...I know I have friends," she insisted as if he had been about to interject. He hadn't. "They've got their own leftover war baggage to deal with without me piling mine on. Everyone else that I should be bothering with this is...is gone."

Hux struggled to process the multitude of things being revealed to him: Rey-the-Jedi-warrior was now Rey-with-considerable-emotional-needs, she felt that he was someone she could reveal this to and not her actual friends, and she obviously longed for the dead…which probably included a name he forced his brain not to string together.

"I should medita-"

"No. Wait, Rey. Just...wait a moment. That was…" It was more than he was qualified to handle, certainly. But for some reason it didn't stop him from wanting to try. "There were a lot of things that I had not previously considered about you... about what your abilities might come with. The bits you have shared with me weren't so terrible so I have started to assume it must be as such in all aspects. That was naive and foolish of me." 

He didn't touch her but she had turned to face him fully. She appeared subtly weathered in a way he had never noticed previously. Why this should affect him at all eluded him, but it did all the same. If her light should ever go out, he suspected they were all royally screwed.

"Rey, I don't know how much help I can be. I am not, and never will be Force-sensitive. But if talking about it or even showing me at times will provide you some relief...it is literally the least I can do."

He seemed so sincere it made her chest ache. He was throwing her a rope and he didn't even know what he was volunteering for. "I don't know…"  _...if I should burden anyone with this. _

She felt him guide her closer, long fingers creeping up the center of her back. He tucked her under his chin such that his voice rumbled when he spoke again. 

"I think that I can manage if you let me try. If it is somehow more than I can deal with… then we'll find you someone who can," he offered dutifully. He had always been a problem solver, why should that change now?

Gods he smelled good. And his warmth radiated out from the fabric of his shirt rooting her in place. His hands were heavy and calming against her back. How bad could this arrangement be, she wondered as her arms completed the circle of his slim waist. 

"If I am to be your moral compass," she started slowly, "I guess it's fair that you be my… emotional shock absorber?"

His short chuckle vibrated through her. "I think I prefer auxiliary emotional resource. But yes. Fair."

When her lips found his it felt like the most natural thing. There was no urgency behind it, only want and understanding. When he eventually pulled back, Hux's eyes fluttered open and saught hers to confirm that the storm had indeed passed. Whatever he had just done had helped. "Would you still like to go meditate, or can I persuade you to sit up with me for a while? We won't have access to such high quality entertainment when we hit the road again." He had clearly been joking about the holonet offerings, but not the former. 

The hurt and uncertainty she had been feeling previously had mostly dissipated. "You choose the program. It's all sort of nonsense to me anyway."

Nonsense had its uses, he decided, as they lounged cradled together on the sofa. The monotonous narration of a presentation on Endor weather patterns eventually lulled them both off to sleep.

***

The following day was full of activity. Poe had come through as promised and pitched the details of their positions over tea. His miniature holoprojection seemed more energetic than one would expect for the hour of the call. He forwarded them their contracts separately and explained they could start immediately. The first few squadrons had already been sent to the base to get things running and would be using the arrests of Natalie Murain and Sirad Jogo as their first assignments. He asked that Rey position herself in proximity to the mission just in case there were hiccups. 

"They've got to function as an effective unit, but personnel is still limited while we run recruitment and training. We really can't spare losing any to major injury or worse," he explained. "Going forward they will be handling most of this grunt work alone."

"Of course I can go. And what of Hux?" She inquired, nodding in his direction beside her.

"Well, his position is in research and intelligence. Hux, the sooner you can get to the base and start digging up info on the drug runner's ship docking locations we can get moving onto them next."

"I see. We'll need to get back to Dagomir 3 for my ship."

"You've got time. Just get the contracts back to me asap," he leaned in conspiratorially, "This is going to be a game-changer, guys. We'll touch base again soon."

When his blue image flickered out Rey leaned back in her seat. "This is it. We did it. We can actually get to work."

"Yes, I am still surprised they signed off…" he muttered, looking over the document waiting on his datapad. His salary was a mere pittance compared to the last time he had been on someone's payroll. It was close to what they had paid stormtroopers after they survived their first year. He suspected that was intentional. And there was something about required quarterly evaluations by the base personnel director. He very much doubted any of that was in Rey's contract.

She skimmed through hers and signed it before noticing he was still sorting through the details of his own. "Is everything ok?"

He acknowledged he was fortunate to have the opportunity at all with his history. What was more, he would be taking advantage of that opportunity with Rey. He signed it and sent it off. "Yes. Everything is fine. We should pack up and get moving then. There's a lot of ground to cover."

  
  


***

  
  



End file.
